EP6 Crisis Management: The Columbia Disaster with Jefferson Howell

Encountering crisis as a leader comes with profound challenges. Having the right plan in place can mitigate the hardships that inevitably arise from crisis. In this episode of Management Muse, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Jefferson “Beak” Howell shares his experience leading through crisis and tragedy while Director of the Johnson Space Center during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Episode Highlights

• Clear crisis communication plans with well-defined job responsibilities are integral for efficient crisis management.
• The failures and successes of previous crisis responses should inform responses to future crises.
• In addition to the increased job responsibilities of a team facing a crisis, tending to the emotional and mental health toll of individuals involved is part of crisis management.
• Crises can happen to any organization at any time, so creating a well-planned and practiced crisis response plan is crucial.

Timestamps [6:22] General Howell’s description of Space Shuttle Columbia’s mission. [10:05] Causes of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. [14:32] How a previous crisis, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, informed NASA’s response to the Columbia tragedy. [17:14] How General Howell established his role in the crisis response efforts. [24:45] An example of some of the ways managers can help support their employees and boost morale after a crisis at work. [28:34] General Howell acknowledges the mistakes of leadership, and NASA as a whole, that contributed to the Columbia disaster. [32:43] The importance of having a well-planned and well-practiced crisis response plan. [35:27] General Howell describes the process of creating a plan for the Columbia memorial service, including the U.S. president’s attendance. [41:36] General Howell discusses how his previous experiences in leadership with crisis, loss, and death informed his response to the Columbia disaster. Episode Quotes from Lieutenant General Jeff Howell: “[Because of the] awful tragedy [of the Challenger], NASA had learned some great lessons about organizing and practicing for a disaster, and being ready for a disaster. And the disaster is never quite what you think it’s gonna be, but at least you’re organized, you’ve practiced… And we had all of our disaster control teams and emergency reaction teams organized. They all met and started coming together about collecting evidence and recovery of the wreckage, which was spread out all the way from west of Fort Worth into Louisiana. And we did that, but it was quite an operation.” “I realized that if you allow yourself, in a crisis, to get down in the weeds too much, you lose sight of the big picture. So, as a leader, you’ve got to be thinking about that. You’ve got to be looking up and out two steps ahead of the organization to help the organization move forward and to get things done correctly.” About Lieutenant General (retired) Jefferson Howell: Lieutenant General Jefferson Howell had a 37-year career in the Marine Corps, serving at all officer levels, and then was Commander of the Johnson Space Center. Following his retirement from NASA, he served on the faculty at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Episode Resources Oral History of General Howell’s time as Johnson Space Center Director at NASA: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/HowellJD/HowellJD_7-9-15.htmhttps://lbj.utexas.edu/directory/faculty/jefferson-howell