Time Management In Crisis

"War-Life Balance , Week 3" I wrote about this last week. I didn't think I'd need to write it again. Three weeks now. Sirens at 2am. Running to shelters mid-meeting. Endless nights watching the news instead of sleeping. Watching my team do it night after night. War-life balance isn't a concept from a leadership book. It's what happens when your calendar has a board call at 9am and a rocket alert at 9:03. And yet — deadlines don't know there's a war. Clients don't pause. The business keeps moving. So how do you actually keep a team together when the world outside feels like it's falling apart? Here's what I've learned (the hard way): 1. Empathy first. Everything else second. Not as a tactic. As a starting point. Before any agenda, before any update — ask how they are. Really ask. Then actually listen. 2. Ruthless focus on what truly matters. In chaos, everything feels urgent. Almost nothing is. Strip the to-do list to the core. Give your team clarity when the world isn't giving them any. 3. Flexibility isn't a perk right now. It's survival. Don't count hours. Count outcomes. If someone needs to disappear at noon because their kid needs them - that's the right call. 4. Patience. More than feels natural. Cognitive load during crisis is real. People are slower, more distracted, less creative. That's not weakness. That's human. Adjust your expectations - and say that out loud. 5. Words matter. Actions matter more. We've been sending food deliveries. Surprise packages to the door. Supporting team members who needed to get their families out of the country for a few days. Small gestures that say: we see you, and you're not alone in this. War-life balance isn't about finding perfect equilibrium. It's about leading with enough humanity that your people can keep going - even when you're all running on empty. Week 3. Still standing. Still building.

I was on a cliff, we needed to get down, and I couldn't tell if our rope reached the ground. It was getting dark and a bad situation was about to get worse. "Decision time!" As the heaviest of the three climbers, I volunteered to go first, because if our rope held me, it would hold the other two. I went over the edge with our extra gear, planning on figuring out some way down, quickly. The way to move up is to gain more trust from those above you. Building this trust starts with consistently making critical decisions quickly and well. Here is a system I developed to make better decisions based on my time as an Amazon VP: Good decision-making isn’t just about intelligence and judgment; it’s about having a repeatable system that can help you decide with speed and accuracy. That system should help you: a) Avoid false choices by expanding your option set b) Surface and test your assumptions early c) Seek the right expert input at the right altitude d) Manage emotional bias before it clouds your thinking e) Monitor outcomes with clear tripwires and signals Too often, we force ourselves into suboptimal decisions because we fail to do the things above. We falsely feel the need to choose between two bad options, we don’t test assumptions, we go it alone, and we let our emotions hijack the process. The goal of the system is to avoid those mistakes and open up opportunities for better decisions rather than locking ourselves into the bad ones. In this week’s newsletter, I break down the exact framework I developed and how you can apply it to your own work. Read the full post here: https://buff.ly/VfRNVPD As for my descent down the cliff, I used a variation of the same quick decision making to get us all off the mountain. We had started a climb, gotten halfway up, and realized that we were moving too slowly to finish the climb before dark. Given this, we then had to get down from the middle of the cliff face by constructing our own alternative way down. From the process above: a) We did consider options - keep going up, retrace the way we had come, or bail out over the nearby cliff edge. The cliff was fastest. b) Our assumption was that the way we secured the rope would hold. We tugged on it (tested it) and then as the heaviest person, I went first. c) We didn't have any experts handy, so we skipped this step. d) I did freeze (emotion) at the cliff edge. My good friend gently said, "Ethan, it's getting dark." He got me moving before I could become paralyzed. e) I had the extra gear in case things went wrong. At first I could not tell if the rope was long enough or not. Loops of the rope had caught on trees and bushes, so I had to lower myself down, committing irrevocably to the descent, and untangle the mess. Once that was done, I found that the rope stretched with my weight, just enough to get my feet in the ground. My friends followed and we walked down the mountainside in the dark.

I have spent a good percentage of my career in tech in "war rooms". Now I help my CEO and board clients run theirs as efficiently and effectively as possible. Every business hits moments that require urgent, focused action — whether it’s a product crisis, market shift, or existential threat. But a war room isn’t just a room full of smart people reacting fast. It’s a disciplined operating model with three things that matter most: people, process, and exit. Here’s how to run one that works: 1. Assemble the Right People who are: - Cross-functional (Ops, Comms, Legal, Product, Finance) with the seniority and expertise needed to drive a solution - Empowered to decide (no observers, no middle relays) - Clear on roles (strategist, operator, communicator, decision-maker) 2. Ruthlessly Manage Time and Delegation by: - Assigning a war room lead - Delegating all non-critical workflows early to keep war room members focused (and your regular business running) - Keeping a running log for institutional memory and fast reporting 3. Set Clear Exit Criteria by: - Creating the scorecard of metrics or conditions that signal resolution on day one - Implementing ownership hand-off points to BAU teams - Planning time-boxed check-ins to assess wind-down readiness The key? Urgency without chaos. The best war rooms are calm, clear, and decisive. They don’t just react — they resolve. Have you run a war room that worked well? What made the difference? Please comment below! Do you need some help with a moment of crisis or in avoiding a war room all together by designing a preemptive leadership strategy offsite? Feel free to reach out to me here. #Leadership #CrisisManagement #WarRoom #ExecutiveStrategy #DecisionMaking #BusinessContinuity #CrisisLeadership #Operations #HighPerformanceTeams

For any organization with customers, employees, vendors, or partners in the Los Angeles area: A natural disaster of this scale must be top of mind. The fires have obliterated communities, disrupted and ended lives, and reached into the urban core in ways that demand your attention—right now. If you’re a marketer, communicator, or leader, you need to stop and take a hard look at your playbook. Here’s what you must be doing: 1. Social Copy: Audit your scheduled posts. If they’re irrelevant—or worse, insensitive or tone deaf; pull or pause them stat. 2. Advertising: Rethink campaigns. Is your messaging hitting the wrong note? Could you integrate themes aligned to what’s front center in many people‘s lives right now? 3. Meetings: Check in. Do your LA area employees or partners even have the bandwidth right now? Show some flexibility and ask. 4. Media Pitches: Remember, newsrooms are at capacity covering the fires. Is your pitch helpful, or is it noise? Many LA media outlets have been decimated by layoffs, your cute new year’s resolution or product launch pitch? Yeah, take a breath bro. 5. Deadlines: Empathy is key. Give people space to prioritize their safety and families over your (possibly arbitrary) timeline. Yes, fires are a reality in California, but this is different. The scale of destruction and the speed at which it’s reached very densely populated areas makes it clear: business-as-usual isn’t an option and it won’t be for a minimum of weeks or months. This isn’t about overreacting. It’s about recognizing a moment. How you respond in the next few days will define your reputation long after the smoke clears and the rebuilding begins. Be thoughtful. Be human. Lead like your long term reputation matters because it really does. Continue to check in, show love, contribute time and money and be situationally aware.

Land the plane. If you’re in it right now, dealing with a missed goal, a major bug, a failed launch, or an angry keystone customer, this is for you. In a crisis, panic and confusion spread fast. Everyone wants answers. The team needs clarity and direction. Without it, morale drops and execution stalls. This is when great operators step up. They cut through noise, anchor to facts, find leverage, and get to work. Your job is to reduce ambiguity, direct energy, and focus the team. Create tangible progress while others spin. Goal #1: Bring the plane down safely. Here’s how to lead through it. Right now: 1. Identify the root cause. Fast. Don’t start without knowing what broke. Fixing symptoms won’t fix the problem. You don’t have time to be wrong twice. 2. Define success. Then get clear on what’s sufficient. What gets us out of the crisis? What’s the minimum viable outcome that counts as a win? This isn’t the time for nice-to-haves. Don’t confuse triage with polish. 3. Align the team. Confusion kills speed. Be explicit about how we’ll operate: Who decides what. What pace we’ll move at. How we’ll know when we’re done Set the system to direct energy. 4. Get moving. Pull the people closest to the problem. Clarify the root cause. Identify priority one. Then go. Get a quick win on the board. Build momentum. Goal one is to complete priority one. That’s it. 5. Communicate like a quarterback Lead the offense. Make the calls. Own the outcome. Give the team confidence to execute without hesitation. Reduce latency. Get everyone in one thread or room. Set fast check-ins. Cover off-hours. Keep signal ahead of chaos. 6. Shrink the loop. Move to 1-day execution cycles. What did we try? What happened? What’s next? Short loops create momentum. Fast learning is fast winning. 7. Unblock the team (and prep the company to help). You are not a status collector. You are a momentum engine. Clear paths. Push decisions. Put partner teams on alert for support. Crises expose systems. And leaders. Your job is to land the plane. Once it’s down, figure out what failed, what needs to change, and how we move forward. Land the plane. Learn fast. Move forward. That’s how successful operators lead through it.

Missed deadlines can cost you more than money. Here’s my framework for handling delays proactively. Deadlines are never as simple as they seem. You set a date. The client agrees. It’s all written in the contract. But then reality hits. • The client delays feedback. • A third-party vendor misses a critical delivery. • Your lead developer takes an unexpected leave. Suddenly, that deadline is not fixed anymore. But you know what the problem is? Most contracts treat deadlines as if they exist in a vacuum. But projects aren’t linear. • They’re messy. • They rely on moving parts - many outside your control. Rigid deadlines leave no room for inevitable hiccups. What happens next? 1. Unrealistic Expectations Clients expect delivery no matter what - even if they caused the delay. 2. Penalties and Disputes Missed deadlines can lead to financial penalties or clients abandoning the project. 3. Burnout Your team works late at night to meet impossible deadlines. Quality suffers. Morale dips. But then what's the solution? You build flexibility into your contracts. From the start. 1. Add Buffer Periods If the project is estimated at 3 months, set the deadline for 4. Better to deliver early than scramble to finish late. 2. Plan for Contingencies What happens if the client delays feedback? What if there’s a tech issue? Have a process in place for revising deadlines. 3. Keep Communication Open Always keep your client in the loop. If there’s a delay, inform them ASAP. Those are some of the ways you can build flexibility in your contract. Make sure you are never too rigid with them, otherwise it hurts the brand image. —— 📌 If you need my help with drafting custom contracts for your high-ticket projects, then DM me "Contract". #Startups #Founders #Contract #Law #Business

Sam Altman and Mr. Beast made the same mistake last week. Reeling from Google's latest AI model, Sam Altman declared "Code Red" at OpenAI—a company where employees already call work-life balance "non-existent." Meanwhile, Mr. Beast apologized for flopped videos and vowed "ultra grind mode" for 2026. He already lives in a studio apartment inside his office to avoid the commute. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. No reserve tank for emergencies means you're driving on empty with the next gas station 40 miles away. That's poor planning, not crisis management. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀. If your team is maxed out and still falling behind, the issue isn't effort—it's direction. Cognitive science is clear: stress and cortisol don't unlock breakthrough thinking. They kill it. It’s okay to ask a lot of your employees, and in many situations, greater effort does lead to greater reward. Still, if you’re already running your teams ragged and falling further behind, it might be time to look for another solution. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱: 1. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺. It’s easy to say that teams should operate at 80-90% capacity to maintain reserves, but nearly impossible to do that in practice. Our work always finds a way to expand to fill the time we have for it. Instead, it’s okay to have teams working at 100%, but fill their plates with a mix of long and short-term goals. When times are tough, they can focus on the more urgent needs and put the longer-term goals aside as needed. 2. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲. "Code Red" only works if it's rare and time-bound. If possible, communicate an end date for the crunch period and pre-schedule recovery time.  If it’s not possible to know the end date, try to make the goals of the grind period as concrete as possible. End-dates and concrete goals signal that the sprint is not the new normal. 3. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘇𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. When leaders panic, they usually throw hours at the problem, set more ambitious goals, and call for all hands on deck. What they miss is an excellent opportunity to clear off lower-priority efforts and zombie work.  👩💻 I'm Mary Kate Stimmler, PhD, and I write about using social science to build great workplaces and careers. I’m a practitioner fellow at Stanford’s CASBS, researching intense work. Thanks to JP Elliott, PhD for sharing the Mr. Beast article 😊

If a major tech incident hit your organization tomorrow, would your executive team know how to respond? I’ve been in rooms where systems were down, information was incomplete, and every decision carried real consequences. In those moments, preparedness isn’t a binder sitting on a shelf. It shows up in the quality of leadership decision-making under pressure. There are three stages of crisis response during a cyber incident: before, during, and after. Each one requires different executive discipline. Before an incident - Clarify who has decision authority. - Align on risk tolerance at the board and executive level. - Rehearse executive communication plans. - Agree in advance on what transparency looks like during a crisis. During an incident - Avoid reactive decisions driven by fear. - Prioritize action over consensus-building. - Delegate execution to the technical experts. - Avoid speculation. Make decisions based on verified facts. After an incident - Run a rigorous, blameless review. - Fix structural weaknesses, not just surface symptoms. - Reinforce accountability without triggering defensiveness. - Institutionalize what was learned. Technology will fail at some point. That’s the nature of complex systems. What matters is whether your leadership team has already been tested before that moment arrives. #BusinessLeaders #Cybersecurity #RiskManagement #LeadershipDecisionMaking #TechnologyRisk

Do You Handle Pressure from Unrealistic Deadlines or Expectations? Most workplaces glorify urgency, but the truth: If everything is urgent, nothing is. A deadline isn’t a challenge if it’s impossible—it’s a leadership failure. When people blindly accept unrealistic deadlines: ➢ Quality drops, and mistakes pile up. ➢ Stress becomes the norm, not the exception. ➢ Work feels like a survival game rather than a place for impact. But when they demand clarity and sustainability: ➢ They deliver high-quality work without last-minute panic. ➢ They earn respect for managing time effectively, not just reacting to chaos. ➢ Their productivity rises because they work smart, not just fast. So how do you push back on impossible expectations? 1️⃣ Ask for clarity. → What’s actually urgent, and what’s just someone else’s poor planning? 2️⃣ Negotiate scope, not just time. → If the deadline is fixed, what can be simplified without compromising results? 3️⃣ Use data to challenge assumptions. → If a deadline has failed before, show why it’s unrealistic instead of just saying “it’s too much.” 4️⃣ Offer a structured alternative. → “Let’s phase this out in two stages to ensure both speed and quality.” 5️⃣ Know when to say no. → A burnt-out employee doesn’t help the team—boundaries do. The best professionals don’t just work harder; they think smarter. Are you letting your deadlines control you, or are you taking control of them?