An Emergency Management Perspective for First-Time Leaders

Emergency management requires exhaustive leadership that is based on principles, sound theory, and practice. These three bedrocks provide an opportunity for leaders to be cognizance, respectful, and at the same time, nimble in leading during a disaster—manmade or natural. Although leadership in emergency management is important, existing literature does not discuss the topic so well. In this chapter, the authors consider leadership from an emergency management perspective based on the four phases of disaster management: preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. Leading and managing unsettling events, such as pandemics, which may become the new normal, require eschewing destructive leadership behaviors. This chapter presents a conceptual model that lists and discusses using examples innate and learned leadership characteristics necessary for effective and efficient disaster management through the four phases of disaster management. Guidelines for first-time leaders handling unexpected situations are provided, together with future research directions.