12: THE LOOMING, THE CREEPING, AND THE BLACK SWAN: MODERN CRISES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUILDING RESILIENCE

The crises that have occurred over the last decade revealed the rapidly changing array of threats that the world is facing. Whether we are talking about natural disasters, pandemics, terrorism, armed conflicts or financial crises, the crises that the world is facing today possess characteristics that are distinct from conventional crises. Besides dealing with these acute crises, the world is also faced with slow-burning or creeping crises, such as antibiotic resistance and greying population; these crises take time to develop but have damaging, irreversible effects if no immediate action is taken. The changing dynamics of modern crises raise new challenges for crisis management and leaders must be prepared to manage them. Although modern crises are increasingly unforeseeable and unpredictable, leaders are expected to have anticipated their occurrence and to mitigate the risks and damages. This chapter highlights five key points leaders should note about managing modern crises, and recommends five key approaches to managing them, centring around building resilience in people and systems to anticipate and prepare for these modern crises.