Legacy of Leadership Volume 1

Stories and Strategies to Improve Your Crisis Leadership


About Legacy of Leadership


"Only 14% of companies have people ready to step in and replace current leaders." ~ Forbes

The lack of capable leaders, coupled with the lack of succession planning, is troubling. Memes expressing pithy quotes are not an adequate fix, either.

For both emerging and existing leaders, Legacy of Leadership delivers useful and organized insights, compelling stories, and actionable strategies to enhance their legacy as a crisis leader immediately.

To create this one-of-a-kind resource, twenty-one diverse, seasoned leaders from the public and private sector agreed to face-to-face interviews. 

  • They each help us to understand the vital role a leader has before, during, and after a crisis.
  • They each share a case study about their successes and challenges as a leader during a crisis.
  • They each reflect on what they wish they knew at the time and what factors they used in their decision-making.
  • They each share a glimpse into the people whose legacy inspired them.
  • They each deliver specific recommendations for anyone desiring to improve their crisis leadership.

They earned their incredible experiences and wisdom from careers leading their teams through diverse challenges, including business crises, war, natural disasters, financial loss, fire, civil unrest, family crises, criminal behavior, political upheaval, dangerous animals, terrorist attacks, train wrecks, and many others.

The interviews conclude with a total of 242 key takeaways. While each key takeaway is immediately actionable, additional analysis was conducted to reveal the 12 recurring themes common among the wide variety of crisis leaders. 

These comprehensive data points enable rapid understanding, discernment, and implementation.

According to the Global Leadership Forecast, to improve their response to a crisis or disruption, leaders' need to increase their focus in three areas:

  1. Making data-based decisions
  2. Gathering multiple and diverse perspectives
  3. Embracing failure in pursuit of innovation

Leveraging these recommendations and more, Legacy of Leadership empowers current leaders to improve themselves and the future leaders that follow them.

** Click HERE to learn  more about the Legacy of Leadership Project. **


Invaluable perspective ...

“Invaluable perspective from leaders who have been there, in the throes, managing through very different types of crises. Each of these short interviews contains a number of Key Takeaways that are highly applicable in a multitude of situations. Each crisis leader is also asked to think with the advantage of hindsight what they wished they had known at the time of the crisis. Digesting all these learnings as good advice will help sharpen the instincts of anyone who may suddenly be placed in the role of crisis manager.”

Jon F. Harmon ... Principal, Jon. F. Harmon Strategic Communications and author of FEEDING FRENZY: Inside the Ford-Firestone Crisis

Rare Opportunity to Learn ...

"There's no better way to improve your capabilities in any subject than to study those who have been through the fire time and time again. This collection presents the rare opportunity to learn from the successes, and the battle scars, of 21 veteran crisis leaders, and is a must-read for anyone who believes in the importance of being capable at the helm of their own organization when rough seas come calling."

Erik Bernstein ... VP, Bernstein Crisis Mgmt.

Seat at the table ...

"There are times in our lives when true leadership is needed. Never is this more important than during an emergency. While multiple bookshelves elucidate on theories about leadership, too often they lack the personal narrative of those that lived the moment. In Legacy of Leadership, Mike McKenna gives us a seat at the table with those leaders that have stepped up in the moments of greatest need. In their own words, we hear the personal journey, built on knowledge and experience, that only time allows for through reflection and contemplation. The varied scenarios allow leaders from all sectors to gain insights and a model for when their moment of leadership is needed. These leaders took action, made adjustments based on the situation, and brought teams together to maximize their talents when the moment needed it most. Through it all they displayed humility and compassion. They were leaders."

Chris Coxon ... Managing Director, Educate Texas

Gain Insight on Crisis Leadership ...

"This book is great for the new professional trying to understand what crisis leadership is from true leaders in the profession. You can pick up this book between meetings or calls and gain insight on crisis leadership."

Colin Rizzo, CEM ... Emergency Manager, Port of Houston Authority

Instantly intriguing ...

"Mike has been sharing the message of Crisis Leadership for a long time … so adding the gift of a legacy to that leadership message was instantly intriguing. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to not only improve their own Crisis Leadership but to help leave a legacy for those that come behind!"

John L. Yovanovitch Sr. ... John L. Yovanovitch Sr., Fire Captain, Arlington (TX) Fire Dept. and Instructor/Co-Founder of @AllHandsLeaders.net
Mike McKenna/TEAM Solutions

About the Author: Mike McKenna

Mike McKenna has previously served in the private sector as an investigator and security consultant to some of the world's largest, well-known companies. In the public sector, he has served as a disaster Search and Rescue responder including during Hurricane Katrina, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and hundreds of other lost and missing person searches.  Those diverse experiences exposed him to some high-performing leaders and to some who struggled to lead themselves or others. TEAM Solutions is a vehicle to improve those outcomes, and Mike now facilitates those lessons to over 1000 students each year through in-person coaching, exercises, books, and online courses.   Learn more about Mike and TEAM Solutions HERE.

Click HERE to learn  more about the Legacy of Leadership Project.

Crisis Leader Grid

Legacy of Leadership Project

Click HERE to read Mike's first book, The Response Leadership Sequence.

The Response Leadership Sequence

The Response Leadership Sequence


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