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CHRISTIAN FAITH PERSPECTIVES IN
LEADERSHIP AND BUSINESS

Biblical Principles
of Crisis Leadership
The Role of Spirituality in
Organizational Response

s t e v e f i r e s t on e
Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and
Business

Series Editors
Doris Gomez
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Kathleen Patterson
School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Bruce E. Winston
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Gary Oster
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
This book series is designed to integrate Christian faith-based perspec-
tives into the field of leadership and business, widening its influence by
taking a deeper look at its foundational roots. It is led by a team of ex-
perts from Regent University, recognized by the Coalition of Christian
Colleges and Universities as the leader in servant leadership research and
the first Christian University to integrate innovation, design thinking, and
entrepreneurship courses in its Masters and Doctoral programs. Stem-
ming from Regent’s hallmark values of innovation and Christian faith-
based perspectives, the series aims to put forth top-notch scholarship from
current faculty, students, and alumni of Regent’s School of Business &
Leadership, allowing for both scholarly and practical aspects to be ad-
dressed while providing robust content and relevant material to readers.
Each volume in the series will contribute to filling the void of a scholarly
Christian-faith perspective on key aspects of organizational leadership and
business such as Business and Innovation, Biblical Perspectives in Busi-
ness and Leadership, and Servant Leadership. The series takes a unique
approach to such broad-based and well-trodden disciplines as leadership,
business, innovation, and entrepreneurship, positioning itself as a much-
needed resource for students, academics, and leaders rooted in Christian-
faith traditions.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15425
 Steve Firestone

Biblical Principles
of Crisis Leadership
The Role of Spirituality in Organizational Response
Steve Firestone
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business

ISBN 978-3-030-44954-4 ISBN 978-3-030-44955-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2020
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version”
are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica,
Inc.™
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and in-
formation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 A crisis has a way of making us all feel vulnerable. There is something
about the change that comes from a crisis and the lack of knowing what
comes next that can make us feel uneasy. As I write this dedication the
world is going through a crisis associated with the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
During this crisis we have seen all sorts of reactions and a multitude of
different leadership styles. This crisis has also caused us to evaluate how we
treat those around us, in our organizations, in our communities, and even
in our families. Extraordinary events cause each one of us to act in
different ways and it forces leaders to evaluate their actions and words. I
hope this book causes leaders to better understand that we need to seek God
during crises and the times that make us uneasy.
Writing is also something that can make us feel vulnerable. Though maybe
not to the same extent that we see during a crisis such as the Coronavirus,
writing can at times seem like a crisis to the author. When we write we put
ourselves and our thoughts out for everyone to read and evaluate. We are
vulnerable during this process because we are unsure of the reaction that we
may get from our efforts. Will it be accepted, ignored, or possibly ridiculed?
Here too, there is an element of not knowing what is next in terms of the
writing, editing, and publishing process. All of this can make the author
extremely uneasy.
I am grateful to those who have put me at ease a bit and have made this
process seem less like a crisis and more like a persistent endeavor to uncover
information that will help today’s leaders. I am deeply indebted to Drs.
 Winston, Oster, Patterson, and Gomez for their help as editors of this book
series and for their guidance during the process. I am honored to call them,
and the other faculty and staff at Regent University, my colleagues.
I am especially indebted to my wife, Roma, who put up with my uneasiness
during the writing process and assisted me in preparing the references for
the final manuscript. She has been a rock through the multiple crises we
have encountered during our life together. Roma and I have experienced
many crises together as have many couples who have been married for as
long as we have. We were together through the events and aftermath of the
9/11 attacks, we evacuated our New Orleans home with our infant
children during Hurricane Katrina, and we have seen numerous medical
crises affect those in our immediate family and among our loved ones and
friends. Throughout all of these events, she has shown me how relationships
are what matter when we are faced with tough times and how love, along
with our faith in God, can get us through any crisis that comes our way.
 Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 What Is Crisis Leadership? 7

3 Importance of Organizational Culture to Crisis

Leadership 23

4 Personal Crisis and Its Relationship to Organizational

Crisis Leadership 35

5 Spiritual Leadership and Crisis 45

6 Scripture as Guide and Comfort During a Crisis 57

7 Importance of Communication During a Crisis 65

8 Steps to Take During a Crisis 75

9 Growing and Improving from a Crisis 85

10 Crisis Leadership and Development of Organizational

Resilience 95

vii
viii CONTENTS

11 Servant Leadership and Crisis Leadership 105

12 Conclusion 119

Index 123
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Examples of crisis events (Author’s creation based upon

Coombs 2007; Lewis 2006; Harvard Business Essentials
2004) 11
Table 2.2 Differences between crisis leadership and crisis management
(Author’s creation) 18

ix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

My Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but
do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save
you from the punishment of sin? What if a Christian does not have clothes
or food? And one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and
eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help
him? A faith that does not do things is a dead faith. (James 2:14–17, New
International Version)

Everyone who has existed on earth has experienced crisis. We should

not forget that both birth and death are very real crises that we must go
through. We all have also experienced crisis in the form of birth, death,
injury, and pain to the ones we love. Just as everyone is unique, every-
one’s response to crisis is different. Some respond to crisis by rushing
at the problem and trying to solve any issues present, while others shrink
from the challenges due to the overwhelmingness of them. Crisis response
is much more than this “fight or flight” response. While we have all expe-
rienced crisis very few leaders have worked to better prepare for them.
This book is intended to show leaders how their faith and an understand-
ing of crisis leadership principles will help them deal with the inevitable
crises that will come.
Think back to a time when you experienced a crisis. How did you
respond? Were you ready for the events that followed the crisis? Did you
have a plan to follow when the crisis hit? If you are like most people you
answered no to these questions. The very fact that you found this book

© The Author(s) 2020 1

S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership,
Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_1
2 S. FIRESTONE

and opened it means you believe you could be better prepared for a crisis.
My hope is that this book will provide you with the resources that will
prepare you for the next crisis you face and will make you a better leader
during a crisis.
Now think about the last time an organization you were a part of had
a crisis. How did the organization respond? Was everyone ready for the
events that followed the crisis? Was there a plan for the organization to
follow when the crisis occurred? How did the leader respond to the crisis?
It is this last question that is at the heart of this book. If in the last scenario
you were the leader this book should be a great chance for you to review
your leadership response during the crisis. If you were not the leader in
the last scenario this book will provide you the foundation for being a
Spiritual crisis leader who will be ready when the time comes.
Similar to how every person has experienced a crisis, every organization
has experienced a crisis. Organizational crises range from the challenges
seen during the organization’s creation to public relations missteps to
personnel and financial challenges. Just like every person’s response to a
crisis is different, an organization’s response to a crisis is just as varied.
What is similar between the two is the typical lack of preparation for such
crisis events.
Humans have experienced crises since the beginning of time. History
tells us that since the earliest crisis, mankind has attempted to deal with
these incidents, survive, learn from them, and be better for having sur-
vived them. Leadership theory dates to the mid-nineteenth century and
the industrial revolution. While leadership theory has developed exten-
sively since it was first begun, crisis leadership theory has not developed
on pace with general leadership theory. Additionally, most of the books
on leading during a crisis neglect to discuss how Christian leaders can use
their faith to help their organizations through these difficult situations.
This book is designed to provide the reader with an in-depth discussion
of how they can better lead during a crisis by relying on their Christian
faith. While many books on crisis leadership (and general leadership the-
ory, as a whole) tend to focus on the individual as the key component,
this book will focus on the Christian faith as the major point of emphasis.
Many people believe that the best preparation for a crisis is experience.
Every day we get older we probably tend to agree with this emphasis on
experience even more. While experience is important, it is not enough.
We must prepare for crisis by using all of the resources available to us.
In this book I will present a case for taking the time to prepare to better
lead during a crisis. More importantly, I will show leaders how the Bible
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

provides us a great deal of guidance on how they can better lead during
the crises that come our way.
This book is intended to help leaders in all walks of life better prepare
for crises. The emphasis here is on the broadest sense of the term leader.
Leadership comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. When many people hear
the word leader they think of a CEO, a president, commanding officer,
or maybe a pastor. In this book the term leader is meant much broader
and includes leaders at every level of an organization because leadership is
present at every level and not just at the very top. Leadership is important
in all the organizations present in the world not just the ones important
to Wall Street or to Washington, DC. Leadership of the local church, Boy
or Girl Scout Troop, or food kitchen is just as important. Going one step
further, leadership at home in the family is just as important, if not even
more, than the typical definition of a leader many people may have. This
book is intended to help all leaders better deal with crisis. While many of
the examples and stories included in this book will be aimed at leading a
formal organization, the principles and techniques presented will work in
every organization down to the smallest family unit.
The contents of this book are intentionally broad because there are
many areas to be considered when we look at crisis leadership. The goal
is to cover most, if not all, of the areas a Christian leader needs to con-
sider when they prepare to lead their group through a crisis. Hopefully
the material will cause leaders and researchers alike to reconsider their
previous notions of crisis leadership and will cause them to spend more
time on this important subject. Additionally, it is likely that the subjects
included here will improve your leadership skills beyond just during
times of crisis since many of the ideas presented are universal concepts of
leadership that apply equally well during relatively calm times.

The Author’s Perspective

I think it is important that the reader understands where an author is
coming from whenever they read their work. While the short biography
included with most books can provide some insight into the mind and
motivations of the author, it usually does not provide enough information
to fully understand the author’s relationship with the subject matter. With
this in mind I offer a brief summary of my experience with leadership and
with crisis.
My interest in leadership began at an early age during team sports, Boy
Scouts, and in Navy R.O.T.C. in college. While most of the examples of
4 S. FIRESTONE

leadership I had were authoritarian leaders who tended to use a transac-

tional style of leadership, I always felt called to lead with what I would
later learn was a transformational style of leadership. My efforts were pri-
marily based on trying to get the group to accomplish its goals. There
was always an element of wanting the best for each individual but primar-
ily I saw things from a transformational leadership perspective where I
wanted everyone to be a valued part of the group. This made sense to me
since I believed the team or group’s success would ensure each person’s
individual success.
My move to more of a servant leadership style came during my early
years in the Navy. As a young officer with twenty or more people working
for me, I began to see how important the lives of each individual were
and how their well-being really should be the focus of my leadership. I
was constantly reminded by my superiors that if you “take care of your
people, they will take care of you.” This very simple saying was enough to
remind me that the needs of those following me should come first, even
if the intent behind it still was not in keeping with servant leadership
principles. As I studied servant leadership in my graduate studies, I began
to see that my leadership style had many of the characteristics described
of a servant leader but the key ingredient missing was intent. This intent
came with the strengthening of my faith and it just began to seem obvious
to me that we should be serving those following us.
This is not to say that servant leadership is easy to understand or to
practice. Most of society today is telling us to act exactly the opposite
of the way Jesus did as a true servant leader. While many organizations
are starting to see the value of servant leadership and are embracing its
principles it is still not generally accepted by most organizations who are
more familiar with an authoritarian structure (Northouse 2019).
There may be some who read this book and wonder how they can
lead with their faith in a secular organization. They may ask, “How can I
be expected to lead from a Christian perspective when displaying faith in
their workplace is either not allowed or is at least, highly discouraged?” I
admit, it is easy for me, as an associate professor at a Christian university to
suggest that our leaders should lead as Christians since I am encouraged
to do so on a daily basis. I would offer that while it may be difficult at
times to discuss your Christian principles, it should never be difficult to
live them. As shown at the beginning of this introduction, scripture tells
us very clearly in James 2:17 that “A faith that does not do things is a
dead faith” (NIV). Our actions as leaders mean the most to our followers
and there is nothing to stop us from leading as Christians, no matter
where we work.
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

I would also offer that Christians today many times censor themselves
in the workplace because of what they think the perception of Christians
might be. I cannot remember one time during my 23 years in the Navy
being told that I could not express my faith, but I can remember plenty
of times when I did not express it for what I perceived would happen. I
certainly am not advocating that people do things that will cause them to
lose their jobs, but I do think we need to consider expressing ourselves
more in the workplace when we can.

Intended Audience and Focus

This book is designed for Christian leaders in all organizations. The mate-
rial will appeal to practicing Christians due to the advocacy of using faith
during difficult times. It will certainly appeal to Christian leaders due to
its reliance on practical leadership principles and examples that will help
such leaders see the best methods for dealing with crises. Christian lead-
ership scholars will be interested in the discussion of Spiritual leadership,
organizational culture, and servant leadership in terms of leading during
a crisis.
The main focus in Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership is on how
leaders can better lead during a crisis and what they can do to pre-
pare themselves, and their organizations to successfully plan, prepare, and
respond to these unplanned events. In recent years organizations have
begun to prepare for such crises but scholarly research and discussion have
not kept up with their efforts. My hope is to significantly close the gap
between the practical and the theoretical understandings of crisis leader-
ship. The content will be evenly split between practical advice on leading
during a crisis and the scholarly aspects of crisis leadership. It is hoped
that the provided information will have a lasting impact on leaders and
will inspire additional scholarly research in this important subdiscipline.
I will discuss this more in Chapter 2 but I want to point out that the
focus here is crisis leadership instead of crisis management. The distinction
between the two is somewhat nuanced but is distinct enough that the
emphasis needs to be pointed out. The distinction between the two is
clear but the reader may notice a a slight amount of overlap between the
two concepts in certain examples since there are some commonalities that
both crisis leaders and crisis managers must accomplish when dealing with
a crisis.
This book will also focus on how Spirituality can improve a leader’s,
and an organization’s, ability to respond to a crisis. The importance of
6 S. FIRESTONE

the leader’s Christian faith during a crisis will also be a focal point for
this book. Biblical examples of leading during a crisis will be presented
to show the reader how their faith can be relied upon to help them lead
during crisis situations.

Summary
The intent of this book is to provide the leader the tools needed to be
the best they can be before, during, and after a crisis while also encourage
scholars to look into how Christian leaders can better respond to crises. In
doing this I have broken down crisis leadership into ten separate topics.
First, I will present an overview of what crisis leadership is and explain its
relationship with organizational culture. Next, personal crisis and organi-
zational crisis will be compared to see what leaders can learn from crises
they have faced previously. Spiritual leadership and the reasons to rely
on Christ will be discussed next to present how a leader can better lead
from a Christian perspective and how this can improve their results dur-
ing a crisis. Next the importance of communication during a crisis and
a proposed method for dealing with a crisis will be presented followed
by a discussion of how leaders can help their organizations to grow and
develop enduring resilience after a crisis. Finally, leadership theory will be
presented, and an argument will be made that leaders who want to be the
best Spiritual crisis leader possible should choose to be a servant leader.

Key Takeaways
1. Experience with crisis is universal.
2. Leaders should spend more time improving their crisis leadership
abilities.
3. This book will present concrete methods for Christians to be better
crisis leaders.
4. Faith will help leaders better deal with a crisis.
5. Leaders should show their faith in God through their actions.

Reference
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Los Angeles:
Sage.
 CHAPTER 2

What Is Crisis Leadership?

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare
and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s
sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of
God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you
must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing
dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted
to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd
appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1
Peter 5:1–4, NIV)

Crisis leadership is a very important part of leading in today’s world.

Every organization goes through some form of crisis on a fairly regu-
lar basis. This chapter is intended to define what a crisis is and what its
impact may be on the organization. Additionally, a distinction between
crisis management and crisis leadership will be made and an overview of
crisis leadership research will be provided.
The two passages at the beginning of this chapter provide us with a
good summary of what crisis leadership should mean to all Christians.
On the one hand, the words from Jeremiah tell us that the Lord already
knows the trouble we will have to endure and that we should have faith
that we can overcome them. While this is very comforting news, this does
not mean that we can sit idly by and hope that things work out. Rather,

© The Author(s) 2020 7

S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership,
Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_2
8 S. FIRESTONE

we are to do as instructed in 1 Peter and in other parts of scripture and

serve as leaders and examples for others during tough times.

What Is a Crisis?
Before delving into the discussion of crisis leadership it is important to
define what a crisis is. A crisis is generally defined as a situation that devel-
ops quickly and requires a response from a person or an organization in
order to mitigate the consequences. Here are some examples of the way
researchers and practitioners have defined it:

A specific, unexpected, and non-routine event or series of events that create

high levels of uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organiza-
tion’s high priority goals. (Seeger et al. 1998, p. 233)

The military defines it as:

An incident or situation that typically develops rapidly and creates a con-

dition of such diplomatic, economic, or military importance that the Pres-
ident or SecDef considers a commitment of U.S. military forces and
resources to achieve national objectives. It may occur with little or no
warning. It is fast-breaking and requires accelerated decision making.
Sometimes a single crisis may spawn another crisis elsewhere. (Joint Chiefs
of Staff 2011, pp. II–29)

Here are a few other definitions from other scholars:

A crisis is change – either sudden or evolving – that results in an urgent

problem that must be addressed immediately. For a business, a crisis is
anything with the potential to cause sudden and serious damage to its
employees, reputation, or bottom line. (Harvard Business Essentials 2004,
p. xvi)

Crises, catastrophes, and calamities are an unfortunate but inevitable fact of

life. They have been with us since the beginning of time. It can be argued
that they will be with us until the end of human history itself. In short,
they are an integral part of the human condition. They are the human
condition. (Mitroff 2004, p. 33)
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 9

A crisis is an unstable time or state of affairs in which a decisive change

is impending – either one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesir-
able outcome or one with the distinct possibility of a highly desirable and
extremely positive outcome. It is usually a 50-50 proposition, but you can
improve the odds. (Fink 1986, p. 15)

These definitions, both from scholars and practitioners, share several

things in common. They all point out that crises happen quickly, many
times without warning, and in order to be considered a crisis, they must
imperil an organization’s objectives or goals while forcing the organiza-
tion to take steps to mitigate the possible consequences. It is important to
note that many, if not most, organizations do not have a defined concept
of a crisis nor a list of what constitutes a crisis to their organization. This
would be helpful for many reasons. Chief among these reasons, in terms
of importance, is that by having a list of events describing what constitutes
a crisis, the organization will be much quicker to recognize and respond
and will be less likely to overreact when less severe events occur.
Why is having a definition of a crisis important? How we define it
will predict and dictate how we see the world. With a good understand-
ing of the definition of a crisis is we can also be better prepared to lead
and respond when needed. We have all likely been in situations where an
event occurred and only several people, or maybe only one person, viewed
it as a crisis. While the minority of the group is responding to the event
as a crisis the others can’t quite fully understand what the big deal is. This
is exactly the situation that can be avoided when proper crisis planning is
conducted and a generally agreed-upon definition of a crisis exists for the
organization.
A person’s worldview impacts how they define a crisis. People who
have a secular or atheistic worldview will see a crisis as an opportunity
for man to conquer nature and for the strongest to survive and succeed.
Those with a more animistic or spirit-ruled worldview will see a crisis as
something that cannot be prepared for or even responded to but rather as
something that must be submitted to. Finally, those of us with a Christian
worldview will see a crisis as something that is of God but that He will
help us respond to if we follow His way. Those people who see their time
on earth as an end will more than likely see a crisis as a possible end.
Christians should see a crisis as only one part of our time on earth that
is leading to our ultimate salvation and entry into God’s never-ending
kingdom (Miller 1998).
10 S. FIRESTONE

The relationship between a leader’s viewpoint and a crisis goes both

ways. Our perception of a crisis based upon our worldview, can become
reality because our actions will be shaped by this perception. Boin et al.
(in Couto) (2010) explained the importance of perception to crisis in the
following definition:

In sum, crises are the combined products of unusual events and shared
perceptions that something is seriously wrong. However, no set of events
or developments is likely to be perceived fully uniformly by members of a
community. Perceptions of crisis are likely to vary not only among commu-
nities—societies experience different types of disturbances and have differ-
ent types and levels of vulnerability and resilience—but also within them,
reflecting the different biases of stakeholders as a result of their different
values, positions, and responsibilities. These differential perceptions and
indeed accounts of a crisis set the stage for crisis leadership. (p. 230)

This means that if we perceive a crisis a certain way, we may change it

into what we think it is. Similarly, how we view difficult events in our
lives can, over time, impact our worldview and how much control we
believe we have over difficult situations. This is why a leader needs to be
prepared to guide the organization through a potential crisis.

Crisis Events for an Organization

As mentioned earlier, it is important for leaders to prepare their organi-
zations for a crisis by educating the members on what the group defines
as a crisis (Pearson and Clair 1998). Below is a suggested general list of
events that can be edited to fit the needs and specific circumstances of
an organization. This should be a starting point for a leader to consider
when evaluating the types of crisis that might affect their organization
(Table 2.1).
As you can see from this list of crises that can impact an organization
the scope and severity can vary greatly. Many of the listed items are events
that occur outside of the organization while others, like corporate reor-
ganization, happen internally. In addition to being able to bin crises as
either external or internal occurrences, we can further group them into
several different categories across the spectrum of impact to an organiza-
tion (Harvard Business Essentials 2004). The list below represents how
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 11

Table 2.1 Examples of

Crisis Events
crisis events (Author’s
creation based upon Natural disaster
Coombs 2007; Lewis Product recall
2006; Harvard Business Environmental mishap
Essentials 2004) Transportation accidents
Protest against the organization
Work-related death or injury
Disruptive employee
Security/Data breach
Social media incidents
Product tampering
Attack or protest on customers
Terrorist attack
Stock issues/corporate takeover
Disruption of utilities’ access
Corporate reorganization

these categories can be separated into like events with a few examples for
us to consider:
Accidents and Natural Events—Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina,
Australian wildfires, Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Health Disasters—Coronavirus, Ebola, and Zika virus.
Technological Accidents—Chernobyl, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear dis-
aster, and Gulf oil spill.
Economic Problems—Impacts from the Coronavirus of 2020, The
Great Recession, and The 1970s’ Oil Crisis.
Geopolitical Turmoil—Gulf War, Hong Kong Protests, and
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Unethical Actions—Enron, Bernie Madoff scandal, and Wells Fargo
scandal (Harvard Business Essentials 2004).
This list and the table presented before it are only a limited representa-
tion of crises that can occur. They are intended to provide the leader with
an idea of what sort of things may happen so that they can develop a top
ten list of possible crises which they can develop their crisis action plan to
combat. Having this list of ten of the worst things that might happen to
the organization is important not just so you can prepare for the specific
crisis. It is also important so that you can get your organization to start
preparing in a general sense, for any crisis that might occur.
It is interesting to note the difference between a crisis and a disas-
ter. While many treat the two as one and the same, and most view the
12 S. FIRESTONE

response as the most important thing to consider, there is a difference

that should be considered by an organization. Bhaduri (2019) explains
this difference best when he writes, “a disaster happens within the larger
environment in which some crucial element of an organization is situated”
while a crisis typically happens to an organization but does not cause an
issue for most of the units external to the organization. You can see from
this list above that the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami are
listed disasters while the resulting crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
accident is listed as a separate crisis. This definition appears to pertain
mainly to scope but it is important for an organization’s leadership to
understand the difference so they can communicate effectively and accu-
rately what is really happening.
It is important to understand that one disaster and even one crisis can
lead to additional crises. This is true in the case of tsunami leading to a
nuclear reactor meltdown and it is also true of a corporate crisis that is
mismanaged that leads to an even larger crisis like what we have seen with
companies like Enron and Wells Fargo. There is more value in the plan-
ning for a crisis than in a prescriptive response that can be prepared for a
specific crisis since we never know precisely what might occur. One of the
favorite sayings in the military planning community is “plans are nothing,
but the planning is everything.” This simple saying acknowledges that the
plans made may not be implemented perfectly due to the varying circum-
stances of the crisis. What is important is the planning process where all
of the different variables and possible responses can be considered so that
an organization is ready when the crisis happens. This benefit from the
planning process is why a plan should never be “put on the shelf” for
years. Instead an organization should have an active planning cycle where
plans are reviewed and discussed yearly, if not more frequently.
Natural disasters have occurred since time began and they have always
affected humans within close proximity to them. With the population of
the earth constantly expanding and humans spread out across the earth
these disasters tend to affect more people than in the past. What we see
even more today are crises that are not related to natural causes. Large-
scale factory accidents, nuclear plant mishaps, corporate crime and mis-
management, and oil refinery explosions, are a few of the examples of
crises we can view as more internal and preventable than natural disasters
(Mitroff 2004). And today’s man-made crises can rival the worst impacts
we have seen from any natural disasters. The exponential improvement
in technology combined with the flattening of the world around us has
given rise to a world where many now view crisis as a way of life. What
this means is that crisis leadership is even more important now than it has
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 13

been in the past. We need crisis leaders who are prepared for crisis as a
way of life.
Crisis leaders are not needed simply to guide organizations out of
crises. Research shows that more and more of the crisis we see today are
caused by human error. Typically, it is not just a simple error by one per-
son that leads to a major crisis. Instead it is typically a chain of errors or
an overall systemic error involving humans that leads to most of the crises
we see in organizations (Simonsson and Heide 2018; Perrow 1984).
When we look at a crisis, we should understand the difference between
error and risk. As was just explained, error is something that can be pre-
vented by an aware leader who encourages their organization to report
errors and work to improve in the areas identified. Risk, on the other
hand, is typically not avoidable. When reviewing risk, we assume that
something will happen, and we project the likelihood of when it will occur
and how badly the organization will be affected. We should not make
error and risk synonymous because our organizations should be encour-
aged to identify areas of human error, report them, and correct them. In
short, we should not place error and risk in the same category when we
plan for the crises that will inevitably come (Simonsson and Heide 2018).

Biblical Examples of Crisis

The Bible provides us with plenty of examples of crisis and people’s
response to them. While the Old and New Testaments are different in
many respects, they both contain many examples of crisis and how those
affected responded to these difficult times. And while I agree with Irving
and Strauss (2019) that “the Bible is not a handbook on leadership” I do
believe there is much that can be learned from scripture on how to lead,
especially during a crisis.
From almost the beginning of the Bible we are presented with stories
of people and groups in crisis. We see several specific examples of crisis
leadership with Moses. In Exodus 6:6–7 God tells Moses to inform the
Israelites that He will deliver them out of their servitude to the Egyptians.

Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out
from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to
them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty
acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your
14 S. FIRESTONE

God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you
out from under the yoke of the Egyptians’. (NIV)

Do you think the Israelites believed this and were encouraged to

respond to this crisis? I highly doubt it. We read soon after that “Moses
reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of
their discouragement and harsh labor” (NIV). It is almost unfathomable
to think that the Israelites, after being told very clearly that they would
be saved from their current situation, decided not to listen to Moses
because their situation seemed so difficult and hopeless. It may seem
unfathomable but is it any more unfathomable than what we see today
when people are going through crisis and do not think they will ever get
beyond the issue facing them? We are not that much different than the
Israelites but as leaders we must see beyond our current situation and
instill confidence in our people that we will be able to overcome the crisis
facing us. We should use our faith in God to bolster this confidence and
allow us to lead through the crisis presented to us as authentic leaders.
Think back to difficult times in the life of your organization or in your
personal life. Was your first instinct to reach out to God for His support?
The Bible teaches us that the most prudent thing for us to do, and the
thing God implores us to do is reach out to Him during our time of need.
There probably is no better figure to evaluate on leading during a crisis
in the Bible than Moses. Time after time he faced difficult circumstances
that he could only overcome with the help of God. Did he have doubts?
Most certainly. Early on in Exodus 3:11–14 Moses questioned how he
could be expected to lead.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and

bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.
And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When
you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this
mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say
to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me,
‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I
am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent
me to you.’” (NIV)

But by the time the Israelites had been led out of Egypt and were
about to be engaged by Pharaoh by the sea near Pi Hahiroth it became
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 15

obvious that Moses understood the importance of believing in God when

challenged by a crisis. We see this clearly in 14:10–14.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyp-
tians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that
you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing
us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us
serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyp-
tians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be
afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you
today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will
fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)

This education of Moses to trust in God during difficult times is what

leaders need today. No matter the crisis or difficult circumstances that
present themselves we must first believe in God and understand that
He will be with us during any problem. While it is difficult to first see
this—even Moses was not convinced at first—it is imperative for leaders
in today’s world to live this way in order to improve the ability of their
organizations to survive crises and to even thrive during such challenging
times.
The story of Moses reminds us that life can be difficult at times for us
as individuals and as collective groups. Nowhere in the Bible does God
tell us that life will be easy. We are told that we will have a better life
in heaven, but this implies that our life here on earth will have many
struggles and crises for us to overcome.
The main thing we should take away from this is that God is with us
during a crisis and that he wants us to overcome the challenges presented
to us. One great example of this is seen in Mark 4:35 where the disciples
and Jesus were threatened by a storm while at sea. Upon seeing waves
breaking over the boat the disciples woke Jesus and asked why he did not
care if they drown. Jesus calmed the storm and then asked why the men
still did not have faith in him. This example shows us that even the disci-
ples, men who were close to Jesus and witnessed him conduct countless
miracles, still had moments when they lost faith. With this understanding
it is not too difficult to see why leaders today can sometimes forget their
faith.
We read in the Bible that God understands we will have difficult times
and He wants us to succeed. It is written in James 1:12 that “Blessed is
16 S. FIRESTONE

the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that
person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those
who love Him” (NIV). God knows we will have challenges, but He wants
us to face them head-on and lead our organizations to success with Him
by our side.
God knows that life is imperfect, and we see many examples in the
Bible that this is so. What is perfect is our life beyond earth. The first
thing we need to understand is that God knows that there will be crises
for us individually and in our organizations. We need to trust that He will
stand strong with us through these crises. He wants us to succeed and
has a plan for each of our organizations and for each us of, personally. Of
course, like many things in our walk with God, this is easier to say than
for us to actually do. Accordingly, we must stay rooted to our faith and
be steadfast in our beliefs.

Crisis Leadership vs. Crisis Management

Much like scholars have generally defined leadership and management as
different entities, crisis leadership and crisis management should be simi-
larly treated as distinct from one another. When looking at both concepts
researchers generally regard crisis management as concentrating more on
the distinct steps taken to respond to an individual crisis while crisis lead-
ership is more concerned with enduring issues that come from leading
during a crisis and how leaders can prepare their organizations to better
handle these situations over an extended period of time (Mitroff 2011).
Klann (2003) explains the difference between crisis management and cri-
sis leadership very well.

Traditionally, books and articles about crisis management place a great deal
of emphasis on management actions to be taken in preparation for a crisis.
This focus on management functions implies that you can prepare for a cri-
sis by writing a plan and then executing it when the crisis occurs. Certainly,
an effective leader is competent in such functions as planning, organizing,
staffing, budgeting, controlling, and directing. But a narrow emphasis on
management strategy and planning ignores the leadership necessary for
putting the plan into action. That kind of approach sidesteps the human
element that plays such a large role during a crisis—the needs, emotions,
and behaviors of people at all levels of the organization. (p. 27)
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 17

Boin et al. in Couto (2010) describe the subtle difference between

crisis management and crisis leadership in the following statement, “we
should not assume that crises are simply bad news for leaders, with cri-
sis management focused purely on damage limitation, both operationally
and politically. Crises may also provide leaders with unique opportuni-
ties to discard old policies and commitments, kick-start new ones, reform
public organizations, and reshape the political landscape by forging new
coalitions (p. 230).”
Prewitt and Weil (2014) provide us with a good understanding of what
it means to lead during a crisis instead of just reacting in an effort to
simply manage the situation.

Reactive leadership and crisis management have been synonymous for

years. This flows from the belief that crisis is unpredictable and unexpected,
which is simply not true. Crisis has its genesis in the values, beliefs, cul-
ture, or behavior of an organization which become incongruent with the
milieu in which the organization operates. A leader, who is able to read
the signals of looming crisis and understands how to harness the exigency
brought on by the situation, can diminish the potential dangers and take
full advantage of the resulting opportunities. (p. 72)

I believe we need to reframe how we look at crisis management com-

pared to crisis leadership. For years crisis management has been synony-
mous with general clean up and recovery operations. In the leadership
field we need to focus on crisis leadership since this connotes a definitive
difference versus the simple management of a crisis and promotes leading
with a broader and more holistic view of crises. Here the point is that
the immediate clean up of and reaction to a crisis both fit much better in
the definition of crisis management while the leader who uses the crisis
to improve the organization can be seen as conducting crisis leadership.
This is not to say that crisis management is not important because it is
definitely vital, rather it is to say we need to prepare leaders to do more
than manage the effects from such events.
Crisis management, in short, is not sufficient for the world we live in
today. We need the leaders of our organizations to do more than simply
respond and react to crisis events. While crisis management is concerned
with how to respond in the short term after a crisis a crisis leader will
be proactive and will prepare their organization for an event before one
occurs. Furthermore, a crisis leader will see how different crises connect
18 S. FIRESTONE

Table 2.2 Differences between crisis leadership and crisis management

(Author’s creation)

Crisis leadership Crisis management

Long view of events Short view of events

Proactive Reactive
Learn during a crisis and from errors No learning from a crisis. Respond and
move on
Plan for many different potential crises One plan for all crises
Communicate to stakeholders the wide Communicate the “response plan”
range of potential crisis
Involve others in the plan and the Drive the response when the time comes
response

and can be used to improve their organization over a long period of time
(Table 2.2).
Pearson and Clair (1998) framed organizational crisis as, “a low-
probability, high-impact event that threatens the viability of the organi-
zation and is characterize by ambiguity of cause, effect, and means of
resolution as well as by a belief that decisions must be made swiftly.” This
definition moves beyond the somewhat simple definitions of a crisis and
adds to it the impact felt by the entire organization in terms of the ambi-
guity and stress and the role of the leader in guiding the process through
sound decision-making.

History of Crisis Leadership

As long as there have been organizations and leaders there have been
crises for them to overcome. We see many examples of good and bad
crisis leadership in every field imaginable such as the military, government,
industrial, and church fields just to name a few. Similar to the fact that
the study of leadership is a relatively new discipline compared to many
others, the study of crisis leadership is also relatively new. Research in this
specific area of leadership has burgeoned within the past 25 years due to
the numerous large-scale crises we have seen during this period combined
with the sharp increase in the speed that news travels due to the internet
and social media. Whereas in the past we would have had to wait days
or weeks to hear about a crisis, and even longer before we could attempt
to understand the role of the leader in the specific crisis, now we know
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 19

many of the specifics within moments after a crisis occurs. In addition

to providing access to more information this has also caused researchers
as well as the general public to probe for information on the actions of
leaders during these moments in order to better understand how their
leadership style impacted the ultimate response.
The military has one of the longest histories with dealing with crisis
response. They have also been in the lead with their training for lead-
ers on how to best respond when unexpected events occur. The military
tends to view crises as part of a much larger plan for battles, campaigns,
and strategy. They teach their commanders to understand how the crisis
will impact the larger organization of the defense department and ulti-
mately, the nation as a whole.
The business world has also begun to realize the importance of being
prepared to respond during a crisis since one misstep here can lead to the
end of a company if the response is not well thought out. This increase in
preparing business units has grown dramatically from the 1980s but so has
the level and severity of the crises seen. Business continuity planning and
crisis response plans are much more commonplace in medium and large-
scale businesses than it was in the past (Lewis 2006). What is missing, in
most instances, is a focus on leading throughout the crisis lifecycle. What
is missing in even more instances, are leaders who lead from a Christian
perspective trusting in God to help them shepherd their organizations
through such troubles. This book is one effort to reinforce the value of
living with Christ through whatever happens.

Summary
Crisis leadership is important to both the student and the current leader.
It is important that we understand what a crisis is and what it might
look like so that we are better able to detect one and put a plan into
action. While crisis management and crisis leadership may appear simi-
lar the differences are apparent when you see that crisis management is
more concerned with the immediate recovery effort while crisis leader-
ship looks at the enduring role of a leader before, during, and after the
crisis. The remainder of this book is intended to serve as a guide for lead-
ers to incorporate their faith into their leadership as they stay faithful with
the knowledge of what God has done, what He can do, and what He has
promised to do. Several new ways of looking at crisis leadership from a
20 S. FIRESTONE

Christian perspective will also be presented and should serve to encourage

continued thought and conversation on this important subject.

Key Takeaways
1. A crisis is a fast-developing event that puts the organization at risk
and forces it to act.
2. Personal and organizational worldviews affect how crises are per-
ceived.
3. Crises are increasingly caused by events other than natural disasters.
4. Crisis leadership is more than simply leading an organization
through the response to a crisis.
5. Leaders should lean on their faith to make it through a crisis.

References
Bhaduri, R. M. (2019). Leveraging culture and leadership in crisis management.
European Journal of Training and Development, 43(5/6), 534–549. https://
doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-10-2018-0109.
Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and
responding (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Couto, R. A. (2010). Political and civil leadership: A reference handbook. Thou-
sand Oaks: Sage.
Fink, S. (1986). Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable. New York: Ama-
com.
Harvard Business Essentials. (2004). Crisis management. Boston: Harvard Busi-
ness School Press.
Irving, J. A., & Strauss, M. A. (2019). Leadership in Christian perspective: Biblical
foundations and contemporary practices for servant leaders. Grand Rapid, MI:
Baker Academic.
Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2011). JP 5-0 Joint operations planning. Washington, DC:
Author.
Klann, G. (2003). Crisis leadership: Using military lessons, organizational experi-
ences, and the power of influence to lessen the impact of chaos on the people you
lead (1st ed.). Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.
Lewis, G. (2006). Organizational crisis management: The human factor. Boca
Raton: CRC Press.
Miller, D. L. (with Guthrie, S.). (1998). Discipling nations: The power of truth to
transform cultures. Seattle: YWAM Publishing.
 2 WHAT IS CRISIS LEADERSHIP? 21

Mitroff, I. I. (2004). Crisis leadership: Planning for the unthinkable. Hoboken,

NJ: Wiley.
Mitroff, I. I. (2011). From crisis management to crisis leadership. In L. Law
(Ed.), Business: The ultimate resource (3rd ed.). London: A&C Black.
Pearson, C. M., & Clair, J. A. (1998). Reframing crisis management. Academy
of Management Review, 23(1), 59–76.
Perrow, C. (1984). Normal accidents. New York: Basic Books.
Prewitt, J. E., & Weil, R. (2014). Organizational opportunities endemic in crisis
leadership. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), 72–87.
Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (1998). Communication, orga-
nization and crisis. In M. E. Roloff (Ed.), Communication yearbook (21,
pp. 231–275). Thousand Oak, CA: Sage.
Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2018). How focusing positively on errors can help
organizations become more communicative: An alternative approach to crisis
communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(2), 179–196.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2017-0044.
 CHAPTER 3

Importance of Organizational Culture

to Crisis Leadership

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude
of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you
should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stew-
ards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:8–10, NIV)

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is

faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love
and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit
of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the
Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23–25, NIV)

Organizational culture is one of the most essential components for

leading an organization. While in some respects, organizational culture
has become a field of its own, its relationship with leadership and impor-
tance to the leader is definitive. Leaders who do not understand organi-
zational culture do so at their own peril. It is generally agreed that it was
Peter Drucker, the influential management author and consultant, who
stated, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This quote succinctly sums up
the point Edgar Schein (2010) made in his book Organizational Culture
and drives home the belief that culture is more important than strategy
when it comes to leading today’s organizations. Organizational culture is
extremely important to crisis leadership as well. A leader should under-
stand the relationship between culture and the organization’s response to

© The Author(s) 2020 23

S. Firestone, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership,
Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_3
24 S. FIRESTONE

crises in order to ensure their organization is the best prepared as it can

be.

Introduction to Organizational Culture Theory

When discussing organizational culture and its role with leadership, we
must start with an overview of the foundational work of Edgar Schein.
Schein (2010) laid out very clearly what culture consists of and how
important it is to the success of organizational leaders. Before delving
into how culture relates to crisis leadership and, more importantly, how
it relates to Spiritual crisis leadership, I will provide a brief overview of
organizational culture theory.
Culture is the feeling you get when you first walk into the room or
enter the main entrance of an organization. There are many things that go
into culture—some you can see and hear—and some you just feel. Culture
is an abstract concept that only exists because of the way people interact in
an organization (Schein 2010). Understanding the present culture allows
a leader to better understand their organization, what may need to be
changed, and what goals should be set for it. This is hugely important
as the crisis leader sets out to prepare their organization to handle the
challenges that may come their way.
In Schein’s model, there are three levels making up the collective orga-
nizational culture that we can observe. First, we see behaviors and arti-
facts which include those items that are readily observable. It might be
the design of the building, the way people talk to one another, the dress
code, or other standard ways that the organization conducts business.
These artifacts are relatively easy for the uninitiated to observe. By merely
visiting an organization or talking to its members, an observer can get a
fairly good idea of what the company’s artifacts consist of assuming they
can make sense of all that they see. That is, they may need an interpreter
or someone to explain what they observe. Imagine walking into a mili-
tary boot camp for the first time without any background on what you
were seeing. You would see recruits with bald heads marching in forma-
tion and you would hear the Drill Sergeants yelling at these recruits. You
would have a lot of evidence, but you might need some context to better
understand everything you experienced (Schein 2010; Deal and Kennedy
1982).
 3 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE TO CRISIS LEADERSHIP 25

The next level in the model concerns values and beliefs. These are those
ideas that are generally held by the organization and are discussed some-
what frequently. Included in these beliefs and values are the ethical rules
that guide the organization. These become part of the organizational
belief system, or philosophy, and helps guide members as they serve beside
one another in the organization. While these values are generally agreed
to, they are discussed from time to time as needed. They will be dis-
cussed with new members and during any times of uncertainty or con-
fusion (Schein 2010; Deal and Kennedy 1982). They serve as something
for members to fall back on during turbulent times when they may only
have these agreed-upon beliefs to keep them bonded to the organization.
The final layer is known as the underlying assumptions held by the
group. As the name implies, these ideals are not discussed directly and
they are taken for granted as being shared by all members. These assump-
tions are difficult to change and are not normally debated. These uncon-
scious assumptions form the real heart of the culture of an organization
and bond its members together. Determining this aspect is ultimately
what is needed if a leader wants to understand what it means to be a part
of the group and what must be done if a change is to be implemented.
There are several ways to represent how these three levels of culture
relate to one another. The pyramid model of organizational culture does
a good job representing how each of the levels build upon one another
and where they each fall in the pecking order of understanding an organi-
zation’s culture. In the pyramid model, the artifacts form the base of the
pyramid with an organization’s values and the shared assumptions stack-
ing on top, respectively. Another way to look at the relationship between
the three areas described by Schein (2010) is the onion model. The onion
model puts the shared assumptions at the core of the onion covered by
the values and artifacts or behaviors on the outside.
Both these models are helpful for the leader to understand the rela-
tionship of the three areas. The pyramid model displays how values and
assumptions rely upon artifacts for their creation and maintenance while
the onion model shows how assumptions are not easily seen until the
other levels are “peeled” back. Leaders interested in changing the cul-
ture of their organization need to understand how these three levels are
interrelated and that they will need to target certain parts of the model in
order to change the culture.
There are many examples in the corporate world and in other sec-
tors where leaders did not nurture a healthy organizational culture, and
26 S. FIRESTONE

the results were as expected. In 2016 Wells Fargo went from arguably
the world’s largest and most well-known bank to a company who had to
begin an ad campaign with the slogan, “Established 1852. Re-established
2018 with a recommitment to you.” In the 2018 commercial, the narra-
tor continues that “we always found a way – until we lost it” (Peltz 2018).
How did this historic and world-leading bank lose its way? It lost sight
of what its culture was and what it should be. Much of the blame was
placed on then CEO John Stumpf, who famously told the congressional
inquiry panel, which was investigating the bank’s alleged unfair prod-
uct sales methods, “I care about outcomes, not process” (Mumley 2019,
p. 7). This brazen statement appears to speak volumes for the change in
culture at Wells Fargo. Reports soon followed of increased pressure on
the sales department to sell products that customers didn’t need in order
to improve the company’s bottom line and to please stockholders (Mum-
ley 2019). The date of this shift to an “ends justifies the means” type
culture is not clear, but what is clear is that this shift had taken place, and
leadership supported it.
The story above on Wells Fargo is not in keeping with what the Bible
teaches us about treating our fellow man like we would want to be
treated. This story also reinforces how our actions can impact the entire
organization. The Bible states very clearly that we should be concerned
with how the group works together. We are repeatedly admonished in the
Bible to not think about ourselves and to work on improving the collec-
tive group around us. We see this clearly in Philippians 2:1–4, where it is
written:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-
minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value
others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you
to the interests of the others. (NIV)

After reading this passage, it is difficult not to see the Wells Fargo
example and the actions of the CEO, John Stumpf, as anything but oppo-
site from what God expects us to do today and what is healthy for the
organization’s culture. The Wells Fargo example shows us how a crisis
can be caused by a lack of mindfulness of the culture, and it also provides
an example of how organizations can have trouble recovering from a crisis
 3 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE TO CRISIS LEADERSHIP 27

when the culture is not right. It took over five years and four CEOs for
the Wells Fargo to admit they had a major problem and that they needed
to run an ad campaign showing that they had totally changed the cul-
ture of their company. Next, we will examine how organizational culture
relates directly to crisis leadership.

Relationship of Culture to Crisis Response

Culture plays a very significant role in making sure an organization can
prepare for a crisis. Without a culture that is open to planning and prepar-
ing for a crisis, there is little chance that a leader will be able to lead an
organization to be ready for what may happen. Furthermore, there is
probably no event that will affect a culture more than a crisis, so it is best
to have a good handle on an organization’s culture before the crisis hits.
The scholarship on the relationship between culture and crisis response
is relatively clear, and leaders who understand this and can relate this
to their organizations will undoubtedly be more successful crisis leaders.
Most poor responses to a crisis come from the follower’s ultimate disillu-
sionment with leadership and perceived cultural norms (Wang 2008). A
crisis can be the catalyst, or possibly a sign, that the organization’s mem-
bers have lost faith in the leader’s projected culture.
While researching the role of culture in crisis response Bhaduri (2019)
found that “organizational culture and leadership are integral to crisis
management and crisis-related response” and stated that “organizations
need to display a higher sense of awareness of their individual and collec-
tive culture so that crisis situation can be managed more promptly and
skillfully” (p. 542). Several other researchers determined that having a
culture that is prepared for and sensitive to crises can lead to a decrease in
the number of incidents reported due to the increased level of crisis detec-
tion and risk avoidance. Culture may also predict crises as Hutchins and
Wang (2008) found. In their study, they offered that culture might be
a predictor of the occurrence of crisis since the more prepared organiza-
tions would likely be scanning for issues and much more likely to prevent
or quickly recover rome them once they were discovered. Finally, there is
research that shows that while not all crises can be predicted, the recov-
ery from them can be improved by good crisis leadership and a coherent
response plan (Simonsson and Heide 2018; Joyner et al. 2013).
There is also evidence that the culture of an organization may dictate
the type of response for a scenario and the type of leader best suited to
28 S. FIRESTONE

respond to a situation. Bowers et al. (2017) wrote, “Culture plays a huge

role in the development and management of a crisis” (p. 554). While they
make a strong point that culture matters, they continue that “Further-
more, leadership style matters – not all leaders are best suited for handling
a crisis.” Probert and Turnbull James (2011) stated similarly that “orga-
nizational members are likely to have shared implicit leadership theories
that are unique to a particular organization and that are transmitted as
part of its culture” (p. 142).
It is difficult to determine precisely what drives what here. Does lead-
ership style drive an organization’s basic assumptions or do these basic
assumptions drive the type of leadership style that is favored within the
organization? The question may be moot. I would argue that well-trained
crisis leaders, regardless of their leadership style, who understand their
organization’s culture will be prepared to handle whatever crisis presents
itself. I believe a servant leader will be the best prepared to guide an orga-
nization through a crisis, but I will discuss this in more depth in chapter
eleven. Being well-prepared means that these crisis leaders will have
already thought through most crisis scenarios and will have a response
plan prepared for their organization before a crisis hits. It also means they
will have created a culture that promotes preparation and values the fol-
lowers of the organization in these preparations and during the ultimate
response. This belief was echoed by Bowers et al. (2017), who wrote:

A crisis is not an event that happens overnight. Organizations’ leadership

and cultural dynamics set the conditions leading up to the event and these
complex and deep-rooted precursors manifest themselves in predictable
patterns. (p. 561)

I offer one final point about the importance of culture to crisis response
in the form of a quick thought experiment. Imagine two different orga-
nizations. One located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and one located in
San Jose, California. The Chattanooga factory employs 200 hourly wage
employees and has been in business for 40 years. Most of the workers
have a high school diploma or possibly some technical college work. The
average age of the employee is 41, and most have worked at this close-knit
company for over 15 years.
Now imagine a high-tech company located in Silicon Valley. This fic-
tional company also has around 200 workers, but they are all on salary
and they all have college degrees. The average employee age is 26. Most
 3 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE TO CRISIS LEADERSHIP 29

have been with the company five years or less which is understandable
since the start-up has only existed for eight years.
How do you think the two organizations will respond to a crisis? Do
you think the cultures at the companies are similar to one another? I
would say it is highly unlikely. Do you think the difference in the cul-
tures will have an impact on how they respond to a crisis? Do you think it
will make a difference if the leader of the Chattanooga factory is a Chris-
tian? What if they allow and encourage their workers to hold weekly Bible
study sessions during work in the break room? My obvious hypothetical
here is intended just to point out that crisis leaders must consider the cul-
ture of their organizations when working to improve the crisis response
and preparation for their groups. Additionally, I want to point out that
when we discuss culture, we cannot neglect the role that Christian spiri-
tuality has on both this culture and our ability to lead during a crisis. This
important point will be discussed more in the following chapters.
Now that we understand that culture is important to crisis leadership
what can a leader do to prepare their organization and ensure the culture
is conducive to preparing for crises that may occur? The first step for a
leader is to study and understand the culture of the organization. Seek
to determine the symbols, rituals, and stories being told in the organiza-
tion. From there move on to determine the values that are evident in the
organization. Finally, seek to learn what the key assumptions are in the
organization so that you can fully understand what steps you will need to
take to change the organization into one that values crisis planning and
response (Lewis 2006).
It is important to note that while cultures are made up of values and
assumptions, which are rooted deeply in the organization, it is not impos-
sible to change them. It does take a concerted effort on the part of lead-
ership to change a culture to one that values crisis preparation. First, a
leader must convince followers that the change is needed by getting their
input and “buy-in” to the process. Continual communication, using all
available communication methods, should be used to explain the changes
being made and reward publicly those who are making efforts to imple-
ment the changes. Finally, the change can be solidified somewhat through
attrition, taking extra care to ensure new members accept the change to a
more crisis-aware organization so they can serve as a solid foundation for
future preparedness (Lewis 2006).
30 S. FIRESTONE

Christianity, Culture, and Crisis

With this overview of organizational culture and an explanation of why it
is so important to crisis leadership completed, we next turn to the heart of
the matter. How do Christian leaders lead under this model? While every
organization is different, and many do not support the outward or easily
identifiable use of our Christian beliefs in day to day operations, there are
still many ways we can serve as Christian crisis leaders. As I mentioned
earlier in the comparison of the two fictional organizations, faith can have
a profound impact on both the culture of an organization and its response
to a crisis.
So, what makes a Christian culture or a culture with a Christian leader
different? Christianity is built upon unambigious guidance in the Bible
on how we should behave, and the principles our organizations should
value. While non-Christian leaders can certainly exhibit these values and
can hold them dear to them and to their organizations, we as Chris-
tians should have the market cornered in this regard. We have a guide
already written for us that we simply need to live by ourselves and that
we should encourage our followers to support as well.
This does not mean we have to be outspoken evangelists. On the con-
trary, we simply need to live up to these Christian principles and encour-
age those around us to hold them as important parts of our organizations’
culture. I will discuss this point further in Chapter 11, but the Bible makes
it clear that we are judged more by our actions and our true intent than
by our words. We are told this in the Bible when Jesus replied to the
Pharisees in Mark 7:6–7. He was asked why his disciples did not clean
their hands and utensils before cleaning. To this, He replied:

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’ (NIV)

This is one example of many of Jesus reinforcing that it is our actions and
not just our words that matter. We as Christians and Christian leaders
need to remember this important point.
The practical implications are that we need to live out these principles
as we work to promote a culture change to better prepare for a crisis. We
also need to live these ideals in our response to any crisis that occurs. But
 3 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE TO CRISIS LEADERSHIP 31

we need to think about our response as Christian crisis leaders before the
event happens. As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, I am not advocating
that all leaders evangelize in their organizations. This may not be possible
in many situations. I consider myself very lucky to work at a Christian
university where I am free to display my love of God, and I am free to
lead openly using Christian principles. Instead, what I am offering is that
you can lead using your faith.
In this chapter, the main goal is to equip leaders to develop a culture
in their organizations that is prepared for crisis. Using the models based
on Schein’s (2010) three levels of organizational culture we can easily
place our Christian principles in them to form a Christian version of what
we want our organizational culture to look like. Your organization may
already have many of the attributes that you follow as a Christian. The
point is that you now see them for the Christian values they are, and you
will be able to lead during a crisis and at other times, as a Christian, using
these values. The list I have included here is simply representative of some
of the Christian values and general beliefs or assumptions that we should
aspire to have in our organizations. I encourage you to add in other values
you see in your organization that match up to what we see in the Bible
and include the artifacts and behaviors you think will develop them.
Artifacts and Behaviors—Award ceremonies, retirement ceremonies,
company-wide meetings, email communications, moments of silence
before meetings, greetings with one another, evaluations, time for spir-
itual rejuvenation and mediation, discipline procedures, architecture,
interior design, and stories told about the organization.
You may notice that none of these items can be categorized as solely
Christian. This is to allow for those leaders in an organization where this
is prohibited to still serve as Spiritual leaders and offer options for all
members.
Espoused Values—Treating everyone with honesty, respect and fair-
ness, hard work toward a common goal, and overcoming obstacles.
These should be incorporated in your mission and vision statements
and in any marketing materials you have. These form the basis for the
values you want to have. They don’t have to be listed verbatim but they
should be what is behind the values you seek.
Shared Assumptions—Love, fairness, equality, patience, and kindness.
Once you have worked on the artifacts and values, shared assumptions
will come next. These should also relate back to the Christian values
you have set. Schein (2010) described these assumptions as invisible to
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 CHAPTER IV.
A DOOR OPENED TO WICKEDNESS.

Soon after daybreak, upon the morning following the occurrence of

the incidents related in the preceding chapter, Lady Wynde’s gray
companion departed from Hawkhurst for Canterbury in a dog-cart
which, with its driver, the baronet’s wife had ordered to be always at
Artress’ disposal. She took the early train up to London, her business
a secret between her mistress and herself.
At the usual breakfast hour, eight o’clock, Lady Wynde descended to
the breakfast room. Sir Harold was already there, and greeted her
with his usual tender smile, although he looked somewhat careworn.
Their greetings were scarcely over, and the couple had taken their
places at the table, when the butler appeared, bringing in the
morning mail bag.
Sir Harold produced his key and unlocked it. There were a few
newspapers for himself, some packets of silk samples, and a letter
from Madame Elise, her dressmaker, for Lady Wynde. There were
two letters for the baronet, one quite unimportant, which he tossed
aside. The other bore the Indian post-mark.
“A letter from George,” said Sir Harold, his eyes brightening. “No, it’s
not from George. The address is not in his hand. Who can have
written to me in his stead?”
He tore open the letter hastily, his countenance falling.
His first glance was at the date; his second at the signature. An
exclamation broke from his lips as he read aloud the name
appended to the letter: “Cooper Graham, Regimental Surgeon.”
“What can this mean?” he exclaimed, in sudden agitation. “Can
George be ill? Octavia, read the letter to me. The words seem all
blurred.”
Lady Wynde took the letter, reading it aloud.
It was long, too long to transcribe here, and its import was terrible to
the baronet. It opened with the announcement that the writer was the
surgeon of Captain Wynde’s regiment, and that Captain Wynde was
a patient under his care. It went on to say that Captain Wynde was
the victim of a terrible and incurable disease under which he had
been suffering for months, and the surgeon had learned that the
poor young man had not written home to his friends the fact of his
peril. His disease was a cancer, which was preying upon his vitals.
Captain Wynde had been relieved of his regimental duties, and sent
up into the hill country, where he now was. The young man’s
thoughts by day and night were of his home—his one longing was to
see his father before he died. Surgeon Graham went on to say that
Captain Wynde could not possibly survive a sea journey; that he
could not bear the bracing sea air, nor the fatigues of the overland
route, and he would assuredly die on his way home. But, he added,
that in the cool and quiet seclusion of his upcountry bungalow, his
life could probably be prolonged for some three months.
Surgeon Graham concluded his startling letter with a further
reference to Captain Wynde’s anxiety to look once more on his
father’s face before he died. He said that the poor young man had
desired that the letter should not be written to Sir Harold, and that
the baronet should be informed of his son’s illness only in the letter
which should announce that son’s death.
This terrible news was a fearful shock to Sir Harold. His son George,
the heir of his name and estates, was dying in a far, foreign land,
with a frightful disease, with no relative nor friend about him to
smooth his pillow in his last agony, or to wipe the death-damp from
his brows. The father sobbed aloud in his agony.
“My boy! my poor boy!” he cried, in a broken voice. “My poor dying
boy!”
“It is very sad,” said Lady Wynde, wondering in her own heart if
George Wynde’s death could be made to benefit her pecuniarily.
“The surgeon seems a very kind-hearted person, and he says that
George has an excellent native nurse, George’s man-servant—”
Sir Harold interrupted his wife by a gesture of impatience.
“The man is a Hindoo,” he said. “What consolation can he offer
George in the hour of his death, when his eyes should rest on a
tender, loving face—when his dying hands should grasp the hands of
a friend? My poor brave boy! How could I ever consent to his going
out to India? All his bright, military genius, all his longings to
distinguish himself in the army, must end in an early Indian grave!
But he shall not die with not one of his kindred beside him. We must
go to him, Octavia. We shall reach him in time.”
Sir Harold seized upon his unopened Times, and glanced over the
advertisements.
“A steamer sails from Marseilles two days hence,” he announced.
“We must be off to-day, immediately, to catch it. I will have a bag
packed at once. Order your maid to pack your trunks, Octavia—”
He paused, not comprehending the surprised stare in her ladyship’s
bold black eyes.
“You seem to be laboring under a mistake Sir Harold,” said Lady
Wynde, coolly. “If you choose to go out to India, you can do so.
George is your son and heir, and I suppose it would really look better
if you were to go. But as to my hurrying by sea and land, by day and
night, to witness the death of a young man I never saw, the idea is
simply preposterous. My health could never endure the strain of
such a fatigue. You would have two graves to make instead of one.”
The lines in Sir Harold’s face contracted as in a sudden spasm.
“I—I was selfish to think of your going, Octavia,” he said sorrowfully.
“It is true that we should have to travel day and night to reach
Marseilles in time to catch the steamer. The passage of the Red Sea
would also be hard for you. But I was thinking of my poor brave boy
dying there among strangers, with no woman beside him. If—if you
could have gone to him, my wife, and let him feel that he was going
from one mother here to another mother there—”
“I should like to go, if only my health would permit,” sighed Lady
Wynde. “But why do you not take your daughter with you?”
The father shook his head.
“She is so young,” he said. “She is so fond of poor George. I cannot
cast so heavy a shadow over her future life as that visit to her
brother’s death-bed would be. No, Octavia, I will go alone.”
He arose and went out, leaving his breakfast untouched. Lady
Wynde sipped her coffee leisurely, and ate her breakfast with
untroubled appetite. Then she proceeded to her own private sitting-
room and took her place at one of the windows, watching the
whirling snow-flakes of the February storm.
Sir Harold found her here when he came in, dressed for his journey.
He had ordered a carriage, which was ready. His travelling bag was
packed, and had been taken below. He had come in to say good-bye
to his wife.
“What a great change a single hour has wrought in our lives!” he
said, as he came up to Lady Wynde and put his arms around her.
“Octavia, my darling, it wrings my heart to leave you. Write to me by
every post. I shall remain with my boy until all is over. Tell me all the
home news. You will have Neva home at Easter, and love her for my
sake! She will be our only child soon!”
He embraced his wife with passionate affection, and murmured
words of anguished farewell. He tore himself from her, but at the
door he turned back, and spoke to her with a solemnity she had
never seen in him before.
“Octavia,” he said, “at this moment a strange presentiment comes
over me—a sudden horror—a chill as of death! Perhaps I am to die
out there in India! If—if anything happens to me, Octavia, promise
me to be good to my Neva.”
“It is not necessary to promise,” said Lady Wynde, “but to please
you, I promise!”
Sir Harold’s keen blue eyes, full of anguish, rested in a long steady
gaze upon that false handsome face, and the solemnity of his
countenance increased.
“You will be Neva’s guardian, if I die,” he said, in a broken voice. “I
trust you absolutely. God do unto you, Octavia, as you do unto my
orphan child!”
How those words rang in the ears of Lady Wynde long afterward!
Sir Harold gave her a last embrace, and dashed down the stairs and
sprang into the carriage. Lady Wynde watched him with tearless
eyes as he drove down the avenue.
When he had disappeared from her sight, she said to herself:
“Of course I could have done nothing to put an end to Sir Harold’s
life this morning. I only hope he will die in India—to save me the
trouble of—of doing anything when he gets back!”
Sir Harold proceeded to Canterbury with all speed. On arriving, he
proceeded directly to his solicitor’s, had a new will drawn up,
constituting Lady Wynde his daughter’s personal guardian, and
making Neva his sole heiress in the event of her brother’s death,
Lady Wynde having been sufficiently provided for by her marriage
settlements. The will duly signed and witnessed, Sir Harold hastened
to the station, catching the train for Dover.
He crossed to Calais by the first boat, and went on to Marseilles, by
way of Paris, without stopping even to see his daughter. He was not
only in time to get passage by the Messageries Imperiales steamer,
but had an hour to spare. In this hour he wrote a long and very
tender letter to his daughter, telling her of her brother’s illness, and
hinting of the gloom that had settled down upon his own soul. He
begged her if anything happened to him on this journey, to love her
step-mother, and to obey her in all things, regarding Lady Wynde’s
utterances as if they came from Sir Harold.
He also wrote a note to his wife, and sent the two ashore to be
posted by one of the agents of the company, just as the vessel
weighed anchor for Suez.
In thirty-five days after leaving home he was in the Indian hill country,
and beside his dying son.
Lady Wynde went out very little after her husband’s departure. She
gave no more dinner parties, and behaved with such admirable
discretion that her neighbors were full of praises of her. Although
young, handsome and admired, presiding over one of the finest
places in the county, with no one to direct or thwart her movements,
the most censorious tongue could find nothing to condemn in her.
The only recreation she allowed herself were her weekly visits to
London, ostensibly to see Madame Elise, but as the ashen-eyed
Artress always accompanied her, they excited no comment even in
her own household.
Easter drew near, and Lady Wynde wrote to her step-daughter that it
would not be convenient to have her at Hawkhurst during the
holidays, and ordered her to remain at her school.
The spring months passed slowly. Lady Wynde wrote by every post
to her husband, and received letters as frequently. George’s
minutest symptoms were described to her by the anxious father, and
George himself, looking at his step-mother through his father’s eyes,
sent her loving and pathetic messages, to which she duly
responded.
Thus the time wore on until the midsummer.
About the middle of July, Lady Wynde received a black-bordered
letter from her husband stating that his son and heir was dead. He
had died at his up-country bungalow, after an illness which had been
protracted considerably beyond the anticipations of his surgeon. Sir
Harold wrote that he was exhausted by long nursing, and that he
should remain a fortnight longer at his son’s bungalow to recruit his
own health, and that he should then start for home.
“I wish he would come,” said Lady Wynde discontentedly, to her gray
companion. “I am tired of this dull existence. I am anxious to rid
myself of the trammels of my present marriage, and to be free to
marry again.”
“You can be free within a week after Sir Harold’s return,” said
Artress. “And he will be here in September.”
“I shall be free in September,” mused Lady Wynde, with sparkling
eyes. “A widow with four thousand a year! Ah, if only some good
demon would bring about that happy fact, leaving my hands
unstained with crime?”
It seemed as if her familiar demon had anticipated her prayer.
Some two weeks later, a second black-bordered letter was brought
to Lady Wynde. It was in an unfamiliar handwriting, and proved to be
from Surgeon Graham.
It announced the death of Sir Harold Wynde!
The surgeon stated that the baronet had made all arrangements for
returning to England, and that he had gone for a last ride among the
hills. He had taken a jungle path, but being well armed and attended
by a Hindoo servant, had anticipated no trouble. Some hours after
he had set out on his ride, about the time the surgeon looked for his
return, the Hindoo servant, covered with dust, rode up alone in a
very panic of terror. With difficulty he told his story. Sir Harold Wynde
had been attacked by a tiger that had leaped upon him from the
jungle, and before his terrified servant could come to his aid, he had
been dragged from his saddle, with the life-blood welling from his
torn throat and breast. The servant, appalled, had not dared to fire,
knowing that no human power could help Sir Harold in his extremity,
and the baronet had been killed before his eyes. The Hindoo had
then fled homeward to tell the awful story.
The surgeon added, that a party had been made up to visit the
scene of the tragedy. A pool of blood, fragments of Sir Harold’s
garments, the bones of his horse, and the foot-prints of a tiger, all
tended to the confirmation of the Hindoo’s story. A hunt was
organized for the tiger, and he was found near the same spot on the
following day and killed.
We have given a brief epitome of the letter that declared to Lady
Wynde that her prayer was answered, and that she was a widow.
She was sitting in the drawing-room at Hawkhurst when the letter
was brought in to her. She was still sitting there, the letter lying on
her lap, twice read, when her gray companion stole into the room.
“A letter from Sir Harold, Octavia?” said Artress, glancing at the
black-bordered missive.
“No, it is from that Surgeon Graham,” answered her ladyship, with an
exultant thrill in her low, soft voice. “You cannot guess the news,
Artress. Sir Harold is dead!”
“Dead?”
“Yes,” cried Lady Wynde, “and I am a widow. Is it not glorious? A
widow, well-jointured and free to marry again! Ha, ha! Tell the
household the sad news, Artress, and tell them all that I am too
overcome with grief to speak to them. Let the bell at the village be
set tolling. Send a notice of the death to the Times. I am a widow,
and the guardian of the heiress of Hawkhurst! You must write to my
step-daughter of her bereavement, and also drop a note to Craven.
A widow, and without crime. The heiress of Hawkhurst in my hands
to do with as I please! Your future is to be linked with mine, my
young Neva, and a fate your father never destined for you shall be
yours. I stand upon the pinnacle of success at last.”
 CHAPTER V.
SETTLING INTO HER PLACE.

The announcement of Sir Harold Wynde’s death in India, so soon

too after the death of his son and heir, produced a shock throughout
his native county of Kent, and even throughout England; for,
although the baronet had been no politician, he had been one of the
best known men in the kingdom, and there were many who had
known and esteemed him, who mourned deeply at his tragic fate.
The London papers, the Times, the Morning Post, and others, came
out with glowing eulogies of the grand-souled baronet whose life had
been so noble and beneficent. The local papers of Kent copied these
long obituaries, and added thereto accounts of the pedigree of the
Wynde family, and a description of the young heiress upon whom, by
the untimely deaths of both father and brother, the great family
estates and possessions, all excepting the bare title, now devolved.
The retainers of the family, the farmers and servants—those who
had known Sir Harold best—mourned for him, refusing to be
comforted. They would never know again a landlord so genial, nor a
master so kindly: and although they hoped for much from his
daughter, yet, as they mournfully said to each other, Miss Neva
would marry some day, and the chances were even that she would
give to Hawkhurst a harsh and tyrannical master.
The little village of Wyndham, near Hawkhurst, the very ideal of a
Kentish village, had been mostly owned by Sir Harold Wynde. To him
had belonged the row of shops, the old inn with its creaking sign,
and most of the neat houses that stood in gardens along the single
street. It was Sir Harold who had caused to be built the little new
stone church, with its slender spire, and in this church the mourning
villagers gathered to listen to the sermon that was preached in
commemoration of the baronet’s death.
Lady Wynde was not present to listen to this sermon. Her gray
companion, attired in deep mourning, with the entire household of
Hawkhurst, was there, and the young clergyman made a feeling
allusion to “the bereaved young widow, sitting alone in her darkened
chamber and weeping for her dead, refusing like Rachel of old, to be
comforted.” Many of the kindly women present shed tears at this
picture, but Artress smiled behind her double mourning vail. She
knew that Lady Wynde was lying upon a sofa in her luxurious sitting-
room at Hawkhurst, busy with a French novel, and she knew also
that not one tear had dimmed her ladyship’s black eyes since the
news had come of Sir Harold’s horrible fate.
Neighbors and friends thronged to Hawkhurst to offer their
condolences to the young widow. For the first week she was
reported inconsolable, and refused to see any one; but a box of the
most elegant and fashionable mourning having come down from
London, Lady Wynde began to receive her visitors. She affected to
be quite broken down by her bereavement, and for weeks did not go
out of doors. And when, finally, being urged to take care of her health
and to become resigned to her loss, she took morning drives, her
equipage looked like a funeral one, her carriage and horses being
alike black, and her own face being shrouded in double folds of
sombre crape.
Artress had written to Sir Harold’s daughter immediately upon the
arrival of the news of Sir Harold’s death, but the letter had been cold
and practical, and contained merely the terrible announcement,
without one line to soften its horror. About a week later, no letter
having been received from Neva, Lady Wynde wrote a very pathetic
letter, full of protestations of sympathy, and setting forth her own
mock sorrow as something genuinely heart-rending, and declaring
herself utterly prostrated in both body and mind. Her ladyship offered
her condolences to the bereaved daughter, assuring her that
henceforth they “must be all the world to each other,” and concluded
her letter by the false statement that it had been the late Sir Harold’s
wish that his daughter should remain at her Paris school a year
longer, and, as the wishes of the dead are sacred, Lady Wynde had
sacrificed her own personal feelings in the matter, and had
consented that Neva should remain another year “under the care of
her excellent French teachers.”
“That disposes of the girl for a year,” commented Lady Wynde, as
she sealed the missive. “I won’t have her here to spy upon me until
the year of mourning is over, and I am free to do just as I please.”
So the letter was dispatched, and the baronet’s daughter was
condemned to continue her school tasks, even though her heart
might be breaking. There was no leisure for her in which to weep for
the fate of her noble father; no one who had known him with whom
she might talk of him; and only in the long and lonely night times was
she free to weep for him, and then indeed her pillow was wetted with
her tears.
About three weeks after the receipt of the letter from India
announcing Sir Harold’s death, the baronet’s solicitor at Canterbury
received a note from the widow, requesting him to call at Hawkhurst
on the following day. He obeyed the summons, bringing with him a
copy of Sir Harold’s will, made, as will be remembered, upon the day
of the baronet’s departure from England. Lady Wynde, clad in the
deepest weeds of woe, and attended by Artress, also in mourning,
received the solicitor in the library, a grand apartment with vaulted
ceiling, and lofty walls lined with books in uniform Russia leather
bindings.
“I have sent for you, Mr. Atkins,” said Lady Wynde, when the
customary greetings had been exchanged, “to learn if poor Sir
Harold left a will. I had his desk searched, and no document of the
sort can be found. If he made no will, I am anxious to know how I am
to be affected by the omission.”
Mr. Atkins, a thin, small man, with a large, bald head, looked
surprised at the simple directness of this speech. He had expected
to find her ladyship overcome with grief, as report portrayed her; but
her eyes were as bright and tearless, her cheeks as red, her features
as composed, as if the business in hand were of the most trivial and
unimportant description. Atkins, who had appreciated Sir Harold’s
grand nature, felt an aversion to Lady Wynde from this moment.
“She didn’t care for him,” he mentally decided on the instant. “She’s
an arrant humbug, and poor Sir Harold’s love was wasted on her.
Upon my soul, I believe all she cared about him was for the title and
his money.”
Lady Wynde’s sharp eyes did not fail to perceive the unfavorable
impression she had made. She bit her lip fiercely, and her cheeks
flushed hotly. Her brows arched themselves superciliously, and Mr.
Atkins, marking her impatience, hastened to answer:
“Sir Harold left a will, my lady. It was drawn up at my office at
Canterbury upon the day on which he left England for India. You will
remember that he left Hawkhurst in the morning and drove to
Canterbury. He came direct to my office, and dictated and signed his
will. He then proceeded directly to the station and went by train to
Dover, and crossed to Calais. The will was left in my keeping and is,
there can be no question, the last will and testament of Sir Harold
Wynde.”
“I presume no one will care to question the will,” said Lady Wynde
coldly, “although Sir Harold was in a very excited frame of mind that
morning, on account of the news of his son’s illness, and the pain of
leaving his home and me. Nevertheless, I dare say he was quite
competent to dictate a will. I sent you the particulars of Sir Harold’s
death, with some of the letters detailing the sad event which I have
received from India. There being no possible doubt of his awful fate,
it is time to prove his will. I wish you to give me some idea of its
contents.”
The solicitor drew out a long leathern pocket-book and took from it a
neatly folded paper.
“I have here a copy of the will,” he said briefly. “Is it your ladyship’s
wish to have the will formally read, in the presence of witnesses?”
“No, that is unnecessary. Leave out the usual useless preamble and
tell me what disposition my husband made of his property—the
freehold farms, the money in bank, the consols, the bonds and
mortgages? All these he was free to leave to whom he pleased. I
desire to know to whom he did leave them.”
There was a greediness in the looks and tones of Lady Wynde that
chilled Atkins. In her anxiety to learn the contents of the will, her
ladyship half dropped her mask and displayed something of her true
character, and he was quick to read it.
“Sir Harold Wynde, in expectation of the death of his son and heir,”
replied Atkins, in his most formal tones, “bequeathed all the property
you have mentioned, all his real and personal property, to his
daughter, Miss Neva Wynde.”
“All to her?” muttered Lady Wynde. “All, you say?”
“All, my lady. Miss Wynde also inherits Hawkhurst and the entailed
property. She is one of the richest heiresses in England.”
“And—and my name is not mentioned?”
“Sir Harold declares that you are provided for by the terms of the
marriage settlement. You have Wynde Heights for your dower house
and four thousand pounds a year during your life, with no restrictions
in regard to a second marriage—a very liberal provision I consider
it.”
“And a very shabby one I consider it,” cried Lady Wynde, with a
black frown. “Sir Harold’s daughter seventy thousand pounds a year,
and I have a paltry four. It is a shame, a miserable, burning shame!”
“It is unjust, scandalous!” muttered Artress.
“Sir Harold thought the sum sufficient, and I must say I agree with
him,” declared Atkins. “Your ladyship was contented with the
provision at your marriage. If the allowance was unsatisfactory, why
did you not expostulate with Sir Harold at that time? Why wait until
he is dead to accuse him of injustice?”
“We will not argue the matter,” said Lady Wynde superciliously. “I
shall not contest the will. And now about my rich young step-
daughter. Who are her appointed guardians?”
There was a perceptible anxiety in her manner, which Atkins noticed
with some wonder. He referred to his copy of the will, which was
open in his hands.
“Sir Harold appointed yourself, my lady, the personal guardian of his
daughter,” he said slowly. “Miss Wynde is to reside at Hawkhurst
under your care until she becomes of age or marries. Upon the
occurrence of either of those events your ladyship is to retire to
Wynde Heights, or to whatsoever place you may prefer, leaving Miss
Wynde absolute mistress of Hawkhurst. Of course if Miss Wynde
desires you to remain after her marriage, or the attainment of her
majority, you are at liberty to do as you please. I think you
comprehend Sir Harold’s meaning. If it is not precisely clear, I will
read the will—”
“Do not!” interrupted Lady Wynde impatiently. “I abhor all that tedious
phraseology. I understand that I am Miss Wynde’s sole personal
guardian, that I am to direct her actions, introduce her into society,
and that she is to give me the simple, unhesitating obedience of a
daughter. Is this not so?”
“It is,” assented Atkins, rather hesitatingly. “Sir Harold expresses the
hope that his widow and his daughter will love each other; and that
your ladyship will give to his orphan child a mother’s tenderness and
affection.”
“Sir Harold knew that he could depend upon my kindness to his
child,” said Lady Wynde hypocritically. “I promised him before he
went away to be a mother to her, although I shall be but a young
mother, to be sure. I shall be very good to the poor girl, whom I love
already. I don’t know anything about law, Mr. Atkins, but is not some
other guardian also necessary—some one to see to the property,
you know?”
“There are three trustees appointed to look after the estate during
Miss Wynde’s minority,” answered Atkins. “Sir John Freise is one.
You know him well, my lady, and a more incorruptible, honest-souled
gentleman than he does not exist. He is a man of fine business
capacity, and Sir Harold could not have chosen better. I am also a
trustee, and I can answer for my own probity, and for my great
devotion to the interests of Miss Wynde.”
“And the third trustee—who is he?”
“The young Earl Towyn. He is the son of one of Sir Harold’s dearest
friends, as you probably know, and his youth admirably balances Sir
John’s age.”
Lady Wynde looked thoughtful. Her gray companion bent over her
work, embroidering a black monogram upon a black-bordered
handkerchief, and did not look up. Her ashen-hued lashes lay on her
ashen cheeks, and she looked dull, spiritless, a mere gray shadow,
as we have called her, but Atkins, studying her face, had an
uncomfortable impression that under all that coldness a fire was
burning.
“She’s more than she looks to be,” he thought keenly. “I wonder Sir
Harold tolerated her in his house. How singularly she resembles a
cat!”
Lady Wynde presently broke the silence.
“I understand the situation of affairs,” she said, “and I am obliged to
you for your prompt attendance upon my summons, Mr. Atkins. I
shall leave my money affairs in your hands. I desire my jointure to be
paid into the bank and placed to my credit, so that I may draw upon it
when I please. There is nothing more, I think.”
“I would like to make a few inquiries about Miss Wynde, if you
please, my lady,” said Atkins, with quiet firmness. “I understand that
she is not at home. Has she not been summoned from her school
since her father’s death?”
“She has not,” answered Lady Wynde haughtily.
“Pardon me, madam, but are you not about to summon her?”
“I am not. Miss Wynde will remain this year at school. Her studies
must be interrupted upon no account at this time.”
“Not even by her father’s death?” asked Atkins bitterly. “Sir Harold
mentioned to me his desire to have her at home—”
“Sir Harold Wynde is no longer master of Hawkhurst,” interposed
Lady Wynde, with increased superciliousness. “I believe, by the
terms of the will, that I am mistress here during Neva’s minority. Let
me tell you, Mr. Atkins, that I am my step-daughter’s sole personal
guardian, and that I will submit to no dictation whatever in my
treatment of the girl. If my husband had sufficient confidence in me
to make me his daughter’s guardian, the trustees whom he himself
appointed have no need nor right to comment upon my actions or
interfere in my plans. Permit me to assure you that I will brook no
interference, and if you try to sow dissension between Neva and me
you are proving unfaithful to Sir Harold—as well as oblivious of your
own interests.”
Mr. Atkins sighed, and murmured an apology. He soon after took his
leave, and drove away in the chaise in which he had come. His heart
was very heavy and his face overcast as he emerged from the
Hawkhurst grounds into the highway, and journeyed toward
Canterbury.
“It was a sorry day for Neva Wynde when her father died,” he
murmured, looking back at the grand old seat—“a sorry day! This
handsome black-eyed Lady Wynde, that everybody is praising for an
angel of love and devotion to her husband, is at heart a demon! She
means mischief, though I can’t see how. Poor Neva is booked for
trouble!”
Enough of honest Mr. Atkins’ sentiments had been apparent in his
countenance to prejudice Lady Wynde against him, and to warn her
that he comprehended something of her real character. As may be
supposed, therefore, she did not again summon him to Hawkhurst.
The days and weeks and months of Lady Wynde’s widowhood
passed on without event. She carried herself circumspectly in the
eyes of the world. No visitors were invited to Hawkhurst, and her
ladyship’s visits to London were few and far between. She seldom
went to Canterbury, and her drives about the neighborhood of
Hawkhurst were always of the most funereal description, with black
coach, black horses and black attire, and a slow gait. Her ladyship
was found every Sunday in the baronet’s great square pew in the
little Wyndham church, and as she always sat with the silken
curtains drawn, no one could know that she was not absorbed in the
church services. In short, during the year she had determined to
devote to mourning for her dead husband, the conduct of Lady
Wynde was such as to deepen her popularity throughout the county.
Sir John Freise enthusiastically declared her an angel, her neighbors
praised her, and only honest Mr. Atkins shook his head doubtfully
when her virtues were lauded, and dared to suggest that she might
not be all she seemed.
The year slowly wore away, and midsummer had come again. The
languor of Lady Wynde’s dull existence had begun to give place to a
strange restlessness. Her deep mourning had grown odious in her
sight, and was replaced by the lovely combinations of white and
black, the delicate lavenders and soft gray hues which are supposed
to indicate a mitigated grief. The hideous widow’s cap, not at all
becoming to her ladyship, was exchanged for lavender ribbons in her
hair, and jewels took the place of the orthodox mourning ornaments
of jet. In her “half mourning,” Lady Wynde appeared more than ever
a strikingly handsome woman.
“Artress,” she said one morning to her gray companion, as she
looked out of her sitting-room window upon the fair domain of
Hawkhurst, “this dreaded year is over at last. I have satisfied the
demands of society; I have hoodwinked the jealous and envious
eyes of neighbors, and am free at last. If I were to marry to-morrow,
no one could say that I had not treated the memory of Sir Harold
Wynde with respect. With the sacrifice of but little over two years of
my life, I have won a fine income, a splendid home during Neva’s
minority, and the guardianship of one of the greatest heiresses in
England. That office is worth three thousand a year to me while I
hold it. Surely I have played my part well.”
“You have indeed,” echoed Artress.
“Neva must come home soon, but my own business must be settled
before her advent on the scene. I shall write to Craven immediately. I
will have no further delay.”
She went to a small, beautifully inlaid writing desk, which stood in a
recessed window, and sitting down by it, wrote upon heavy velvet
paper the following words:
 “Craven: You may come to me at last. There is no further obstacle
between us.
“Octavia.”
This brief missive she inclosed in a square envelope, and stamped
with pale green wax and her favorite device.
The letter she addressed to The Hon. Craven Black, The Albany,
London, W.
She then touched her bell. To the servant who came at her summons
she gave the letter, ordering it to be posted at Wyndham village
without delay. When her messenger had gone, her ladyship gave a
sigh of consent, and murmured:
“I am about to reap the reward of all my schemes. Craven will be
here to-morrow!”
 CHAPTER VI.
HER LADYSHIP’S ACCOMPLICE.

The morrow to which Lady Wynde looked forward with feverish

expectation dawned at last, bright and clear, and deepened into a
sultry afternoon. The baronet’s widow spent hours at her toilet, and
the effect of her labors was satisfactory to her. She surveyed her
reflection in a full-length mirror in her dressing-room with a smile of
complacency. Her black hair was arranged in braids, curls, and finely
crimpled waves, after the fashion of the day, and in the midst of its
prodigal luxuriance, above her forehead, a jeweled spray flashed
and glittered. Her dress, made low in the neck and short in the
sleeves, to display her finely rounded shoulders and arms, was of
lustrous silk of lavender hue, and was draped with a black lace
overskirt. A necklace and bracelets incrusted with diamonds added
brilliancy to her appearance. Her liquid black eyes shone and
glittered; her cheeks were red as damask roses; she had never
looked half so handsome in the days when she had fascinated Sir
Harold Wynde and made him adore her.
She had dismissed her maid, and was giving a last touch to the short
curls that dropped over her forehead, while she talked with Artress,
when wheels were heard coming up the drive. The gray companion
flitted to a shuttered window and peeped out. A cab was
approaching the house, and a man’s head was protruded from the
window. His face was half averted, as he apparently studied the
exterior of the dwelling, but Artress knew him. She glided back to
Lady Wynde with the words:
“He has come!”
A sudden agitation seemed to convulse the soul of the baronet’s
widow. A sudden paleness swept over her face. She leaned heavily
upon the back of a chair, and stood there motionless until a servant
brought up a silver tray on which lay a large square card with the
inscription, “The Honorable Craven Black,” and announced that the
gentleman had been shown into the drawing-room. Then her
ladyship started abruptly, the color returning to her face in ruddy
waves.
“Come, Artress,” she said, “we will go below. Yet stay. You may delay
your coming for half an hour. Surely no one can find fault with me for
seeing him alone a little while. Since I became a widow for the
second time, I have felt as if I lived in a glass lantern with the eyes of
all Kent upon me. Yet there is no need of carrying my caution too
far.”
She gave a last glance at her reflection in the mirror, a last deft touch
to her attire, and then swept from the room down the stairs, and
slowly entered the drawing-room.
A gentleman within arose from his seat, and came forward with
outstretched hands and eager face. He was tall, handsome, fair-
haired, with light eyes full of sinister gleams, and his full, sensual lips
wore even now a cynical smile that appeared habitual to them.
He was the same man who had watched, from the pier head at
Brighton, the rescue of Octavia Hathaway from the sea by Sir Harold
Wynde—the same man who had witnessed the marriage of the
baronet and the widow from behind a clustered pillar in the church,
and whose sinister comments, as he emerged into Hanover Square,
we have chronicled.
His quick glance swept the form and face of Lady Wynde; a look of
admiration burned in his eyes. He held out his arms. With a joyous
cry, the handsome widow sprang forward, and was clasped in his
embrace.
“At last! At last!” she murmured.
“Yes, at last!” echoed Mr. Black, in tones of exultation. “Nothing
stands between us now, Octavia! We have lost nothing by waiting.
We have been guilty of no crime, and fate itself has played into our
hands. And you, Octavia, in the prime of your beauty, are more
magnificent than ever.”
He drew her to a sofa and clasped an arm around her waist. Her
head drooped to his shoulder. The flush of intense joy mantled her
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