THE KEYSTONE CRISIS

When I lecture on these crisis subjects at companies and business schools across the country, I usually spend a few minutes teaching a little simplified lesson on architecture. I often display on a PowerPoint screen a photograph of an archway. I then explain the importance of the keystone—the stone that is directly at the top and center of the arch. It is designed to be load-bearing, and if it were to be removed, the entire arch and all that it supports would collapse in on itself. In short, everything depends upon this one keystone.

Then, I ask the class to imagine a crisis as being in the form of an arch, and I explain that in virtually every crisis, there is one aspect that is more important than all the others—more important ...

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