Before: Panic-Fueled Crisis Response. After: Cool-Headed Rational Contingency Planning. Here’s How.

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Years ago, I sat in a client’s conference room at 3 p.m. It felt like the eye of a hurricane. Nobody answered emails. Nobody rallied the troops. Everybody was waiting on the CISO, a sharp man who had not slept in 36 hours and was running on anger, adrenaline and terrible coffee.

Then the phone rang. Another alarm, another escalation. He walked in red-eyed, told the CEO that the incident scope had doubled and asked for strategic guidance. The CEO did what most leaders do in that moment. He turned to the room and asked a question I’ve heard a hundred times: “So. What do we do now?”

Contingency-Planning on Rational America

Before: Panic-Fueled Crisis Response. After: Cool-Headed Rational Contingency Planning. Here’s How.