How to Survive a Crisis
- Author David Omand
- Narrator David Omand
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Run Time 13 hours and 13 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Business and Management, History, Management and management techniques, Military history, Military intelligence, Self-help, personal development and practical advice, Social impact of disasters, Society and Social Sciences, Survivalism / Preparing for emergencies.
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
We never really know when a crisis might arise. Some 'black swan' events, like terrorist attacks or natural disasters, blow up suddenly out of a clear sky. But some crises build slowly, often with warning signs along the way underestimated or ignored, until as if from nowhere, a tipping point is reached and a wildfire breaks out that suddenly spreads at a ferocious rate.
Coincidental bad luck can easily cause a situation to spiral out of control. By then, it might be next to impossible to pull things back together, and there's a real crisis to manage rather than just a local emergency. Slow burning crises, and bad luck, happen more often than they should in the world of business and politics.
In How to Survive a Crisis, Professor Sir David Omand, formerly both a director of GCHQ and the UK's Security and Intelligence Coordinator, shows how to manage crises in myriad forms, using methodologies employed by the British intelligence agencies. Through gripping examples from Professor Omand's storied career, including from the COBRA room in government, to lessons from historic crises such as Chernobyl or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, this book will equip you with military intelligence techniques such as situational awareness and adaptive resilience that can be used in any crisis, from the professional to the personal.
'Sir David Omand is undoubtedly one of the most able people to have served in British government since the Second World War' TLS
©2023 David Omand (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
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David Omand is one of Britain’s most distinguished public servants – he combines deep experience from an exceptional career in public service with a rare capacity for communicating complexity, and the challenges of government and intelligence. He is exactly the man you need in a crisis
Rory Stewart -
Piercingly insightful, brilliantly lucid and illuminating, frightening and wise. Professor Sir David Omand has spent his life working at the very heart of the state and he brings this unique historical perspective to disasters that have befallen – and could yet befall – the nation and the wider world. From nuclear meltdown to apocalyptic cyber-attacks, from pandemics to the drums of war, here is a remarkable record of how the threads of society can be held firm in the darkest days. He writes with passion, fierce intelligence, sometimes with anger but also, fundamentally, with an optimistic vision: civilisation can prevail
Sinclair McKay, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Dresden -
An extraordinary achievement. Probably the best book ever written on crisis management which, as Sir David Omand persuasively argues, mostly amounts to “crisis survival”. A superlative blend of his personal experience of modern crises and historical insights. Essential reading for our post-Covid-19 world
Christopher Andrew -
An amazing book. Timely, essential and important. The brilliantly insightful David Omand draws on his unmatched experience to explore the complexities of crisis. He shows us how poor preparation leads to failure, but applied intelligence saves lives. There is a lesson for all of us on every page, moreover it’s a fascinating read
Richard Aldrich, author of GCHQ -
As the world belatedly wakes up to the importance of resilience, this book is the instruction manual we all need. Leaders, in particular, should take note. It will be your imagination, ownership and example that will be decisive as we fight to defend that most precious of things: normality
Sir Alex Younger, Chief of MI6 -
If anyone knows how to handle a catastrophe, it’s the former director of GCHQ
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