Edward Conley on disaster leadership: to gain control of a crisis, you need to give up control
“People won’t remember the plan. They will remember how you responded.”
Resilience Unfiltered Coffee Chat Series
My guest in this Resilience Unfiltered chat is Edward L. Conley from Seattle, USA – crisis leadership coach, author and former disaster responder. For nearly thirty years, Ed served at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the national coordinating body supporting state and local governments before, during and after major disasters. He led more than 200 response operations and was involved in some of the most consequential crises of our time, including Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Beyond FEMA, Ed collaborated with leaders from the United States Coast Guard, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Secret Service and the United States Department of State during emergencies and National Special Security Events that require coordinated emergency planning. He also served as a U.S. Liaison Representative to NATO, focusing on international coordination and preparedness. Earlier in his career, Ed spent seven years as a medical responder with the U.S. National Ski Patrol.
Today, Ed mentors crisis leaders worldwide, travelling across Taiwan, Nigeria, New Zealand, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Hawai‘i and the Western Pacific, and is frequently consulted by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Defense. His book Promote the Dog Sitter: And Other Principles for Leading During Disasters (2022) lays out ten leadership principles from his extensive field experience. Ed also serves on the board of the Emergency Management External Affairs Association.
In this conversation, we dive into what it means to show up in the hardest moments, how coordination differs from control, and why disaster leadership ultimately begins at the local level.
Natalia
Ed, you bring an extraordinary depth of crisis experience as a former FEMA responder and advisor to NATO and the CDC. Before we dive into our conversation, what drew you into the world of emergency management?
Ed
I started out as a first responder on the ski patrol in California. As a trained emergency medical responder, I dealt with broken legs and head injuries and did some search and rescue. When the resort closed but kids were still out on the mountain, we would go find them.
I loved responding to incidents. I loved being on the mountain. I loved the confidence to stabilize a situation that came from having the training and experience.
The challenge was that I wasn’t making much money. When I started a family, I needed to earn a living. So I began looking for a way to turn my passion for emergency response into a career.
That’s when I discovered this U.S. federal agency called FEMA. This was before FEMA became widely known after the major disasters of the past few decades. Back then, it was relatively new. Many people hadn’t even heard of it. I applied, interviewed and heard nothing for months.
Then, out of the blue, they called and said, “We’d like to offer you a job. You need to be in Washington, DC in two weeks. It’s a career position. We are going to train you for two years. Are you in?”
I remember thinking: this is one of those defining moments in your life. Am I all in? I was 29 and trying to figure out what to do with my life. Maybe this was my last chance to really follow my passion.
I said yes. And it turned out to be a great decision.
Natalia
It sounds more like a corporate job than the physical, immediate response you were used to. How was that transition for you?
Ed
That’s right. FEMA is not a first-response organization. It’s a national coordinating agency. I had to make an adjustment.
On ski patrol, I would rush to the scene. At FEMA, it was someone else’s job. Mine was to enable others to succeed. I realized quickly that the best way to help them do their job well was not to interfere with their operation, but to ensure they had the tools and resources they needed.
At the same time, the mental makeup of a first responder – the esprit de corps, the camaraderie, the discipline – proved invaluable in my FEMA career. Having that foundation helped me understand what people in the field were experiencing and what they actually needed. I’ve always felt fortunate that I started there.
Natalia
We are in different disciplines of crisis management. You focus on emergency response. I'm often brought in when there are reputational implications. Even though we work in different contexts, I imagine a common denominator is training. You mentioned that part of your job was helping first responders succeed. How do you empower people to do an exceptional job when lives are at stake?
Ed
In any crisis discipline, success is a team effort. And to build a strong team, you need clear boundaries. A crisis almost always involves more than one person, and often more than one organization. There needs to be a real commitment to working together. But there’s a difference between coordination and control.
My theory is that, to truly gain control in a crisis, you have to give up control. That’s where boundaries come in.
You respect the legal authority, the tactical expertise and the experience of the other members of the team. You are not trying to do their job. You might help set priorities. You might provide tools, resources, food or water. But the people on the ground need to let you know what they require to be successful. And you need to know where those boundaries end.
Gaining control in a crisis is about building relationships, sharing information and working together. When someone steps outside their lane and takes over responsibilities of other organizations or individuals, it all gets screwed up.
The discipline to understand and respect those boundaries is critical to team success. That philosophy of crisis leadership is based on the principle of coordination, not control. The more you try to control everything as an individual, the less control you actually have.
Natalia
I've been thinking a lot about teamwork in crises. In many organizations, the operational model for crisis management is not clearly defined. Different individuals end up taking on pieces of that work on top of their regular roles, sometimes reluctantly. They don't function as a cohesive team. I often advocate for having a champion for crisis management at the leadership or board level, plus a designated chair of the crisis team, a back-up or right hand, and a coordinator who takes care of the operational details, such as keeping the crisis plan current. From your experience, how should organizations think about roles and ownership?
Ed
There has to be clarity around who the emergency manager is. It needs to be one designated entity – an individual or a specific office, full- or part-time. Someone has to own crisis management. That person or office runs the training. They are the custodian of the crisis plan. They make sure it doesn’t sit on a shelf. They prepare themselves – mentally and operationally – knowing that when a crisis hits, they will be among the first to step in and get communication moving.
I’ve also found that many crisis management principles apply to everyday leadership. It’s ultimately about commitment – making crisis management something you live and breathe rather than put on a shelf. The organizations that blow you away with their ability to step up in difficult moments have something in common. Somehow, they’ve embraced crisis management principles, theories and tactics long before anything goes wrong. They use them all the time.
Natalia
You have responded to, reflected on and written about some of the most challenging and visible crises of our time. Are there any stories that illustrate how coordination versus control played out in the real world?
Ed
9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake were the three largest disasters I dealt with in terms of loss of life, scope, historical significance and international attention. They were wildly different – a terrorist attack, a massive hurricane and a catastrophic earthquake on an island.
There are many lessons from those events. Two stand out.
First: show up. It’s a simple principle I live by in my professional and personal life. When disaster strikes, you rarely have your bags packed, your team ready and a plane waiting for you to jump on.
On 9/11, I was working a fire in Utah when I got the call to deploy to Ground Zero. Commercial airspace was shut down. I still found a way to get from Utah to New York in less than a day. We ended up flying on a private jet with the owner of the New York Giants.
When Katrina hit, I was in Spain. I found a way to get to the Gulf Coast in two days.
When the Haiti earthquake struck, I was in Colorado. We hitched a ride with the United States Coast Guard on a helicopter from Miami, and then jumped on board with the Coast Guard crew and flew over on their helicopter to Haiti. From Denver to Port-au-Prince in a day and a half.
If you get the call, whether you are a disaster responder or the head of an organization, you show up. It’s not the moment to hide or delay. People need to see you.
Everyone has doubts. Everyone has fear.
I tell people all the time, you can do this. Overcome your fear and trust your ability to figure things out.
Number two. Everything begins and ends at the local level. That’s where priorities are set. That’s where you make tough decisions and stick with them to the end. The local community – whether it’s a mayor and their team, a business owner or individual survivors – ultimately determines the success of recovery. Outside support is important, but it cannot replace local ownership.
9/11 remains one of the response success stories. It was inspiring because of the extraordinary local leadership in New York City.
In the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, it took much longer for local leadership to fully step up and for people to recognize that the only way to bounce back from that devastating hurricane was to take charge of their own recovery.
Haiti has never come back. I was there, Natalia. There were so many promises from the international community. Billions of dollars poured into Haiti. Celebrities built homes. Concerts raised money. But today, Haiti is worse off than it was after the earthquake. It’s more dangerous. In many areas, institutions collapsed completely. There were many reasons for that, including a failure of the international community to help rebuild continuity in the national government rather than defaulting to the standard playbook of throwing money at the problem. Those structures needed to be strong enough to make tough decisions over a 10- to 15-year recovery.
Natalia
It’s one thing to show up and work alongside local leadership in a disaster. It’s quite another to build response capability in contexts as different as Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan or Taiwan. Often, there’s no shared understanding even within a single organization. And here, we need emergency managers, government spokespeople, public health officers and others to be on the same page. What are the success factors?
Ed
Successful disaster response is rooted in a commitment to building capacity and capability before disaster strikes.
During my career with FEMA, I participated in international disaster response. Now, I focus on capacity-building – training and establishing systems.
In the United States, we are a constitutional republic with a federal system. FEMA supports states and local communities. Governors set priorities as the leading authorities ultimately responsible for public safety.
Internationally, we often see more centralized national systems – whether military, fire or medical. They handle everything from policy to tactical response.
We don’t go in to replace local structures. They are different everywhere. We are there to understand the situation we deal with, respect boundaries and build on what already exists.
We start by looking at the government institutions. Then, we suggest systems, processes and facilities that fit. A big focus is helping agencies build relationships with each other.
If a country hasn’t experienced a major disaster in some time, we create classroom and exercise environments where organizations practice working together.
We also look at global trends in emergency management and adapt what makes sense. Most effective structures incorporate some form of incident command system with common language. When someone says “incident commander,” “common operating picture” or “Emergency Operations Center,” everyone understands what that means.
Finally, we need to recognize internal communication channels. How is information about impact gathered and shared? Where are the coordination points? Who has the expertise, resources and capabilities we need to tap into? Is there a simple process to bring people together as a team, assess the situation and begin making decisions?
Natalia
Getting multiple agencies on the same page is easier said than done. Leaders often get stuck defining the problem they are trying to solve in the first place. How do you break through that?
Ed
Here’s a step many skip: describe what success looks like. What’s the desired outcome? Then develop three strategies to get there. That’s a powerful framework to help people focus in the chaotic environment when all hell's breaking loose.
You’ve done the training. You trust your ability to figure things out. You show up. When you first arrive at the scene, just pick those three actions and build from there. You will adjust later.
When our team landed in New York after 9/11, everyone looked at me: “What do we do now?” I said, number one, we are going to the Javits Center and hooking up with the search and rescue teams. Number two, we find our counterparts at the city level and introduce ourselves. Number three, we get a place to sleep tonight.
Let’s go.
Natalia
In a previous conversation, we touched on Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal. He writes about teams that can figure it out, saying it takes a network to defeat a network. You spoke about playing offense rather than defense. Where do we begin when it comes to building prepared teams?
Ed
Maybe it’s a little esoteric, but when I speak to mayors, community leaders or corporate executives, I tell them: assume this will be a legacy moment. Think about how you want to be remembered on the other side of the crisis. Will you own it? Will you hide? Will you blame someone else? What are your philosophical principles – your baseline for dealing with adversity? People will not remember the plan. They will remember how you responded in the difficult moments.
We begin by helping leaders recognize how consequential these moments are for them, their personal reputation, their organization’s future and their community. The more they think about how they want to show up, the better they usually respond.
There are hundreds of entry points to building a culture of preparedness. Host a brown-bag lunch discussion. Invite a retired CEO who has gone through a crisis. Bring in a community leader or an author you admire. Run a tabletop exercise so when something bad happens, you don’t lose your collective head. You already have a framework and the mental toughness to begin dealing with it.
It’s not a huge resource commitment. People enjoy building new skills. They take pride in being part of an organization that prepares to rise to the moment. You’d expect leaders to encourage that mindset.
Natalia
At a recent IABC crisis communications shared interest group session, someone asked how to train on worst-case scenarios without creating panic or fear. My view is that the more familiar we become with those scenarios, the less likely we are to catastrophize. The exercises become routine. What’s your perspective?
Ed
I’ve responded to school shootings, terrorism attacks, catastrophic earthquakes, hurricanes and wildfires. I was involved during the false missile alert in Hawaii, with minutes to prepare.
You know what? I don’t see widespread panic. I see fear, but it often drives rational action. People seek accurate information. They look to trusted leaders for guidance. Yes, individuals may melt down. But collective panic is rare.
In crisis training, honesty is critical. If you are going to discuss worst-case scenarios, go all the way. Don’t keep the conversation on “safe” ground. Be clear about what could happen and what preparedness truly requires.
At the same time, build confidence. Let people know that they will surprise themselves with their ability to handle even the most difficult situations. I’ve seen it in major disasters. I think there’s science to back this up. In the most trying times, we often see the best of people. They rise to the occasion. They help their neighbors.
Natalia
What are some of the most common communication mistakes you’ve observed?
Ed
Many organizations mess up communication because they haven’t integrated it in the response plan. I recommend treating it as another operational resource. Communication is not just about brand or reputational protection. It is relatively simple to activate. It doesn’t cost much, and its power is immense.
You can tell people what actions they need to take to protect themselves, respond effectively or begin rebuilding. Boards can tap into their networks to bolster trust and support outside the organization. Leaders set the tone for employees. They ensure misinformation is shut down and rumors do not spread like wildfire, so people stay focused on dealing with real problems instead of spinning off in unproductive directions.
Another mistake is delay.
In today’s social media world, you move from an information void to information overload in minutes. If you don’t fill that void with accurate information, someone else will. So communicate early. First internally. Then externally. Avoid over-promising or over-reassuring. Talk straight.
We can learn from leaders who were great communicators. Winston Churchill. John F. Kennedy. They used a certain framework for dealing with difficult situations.
First, describe the challenge. Show that you understand what people are worried about – what they’ve seen, what they fear, what they are experiencing. When leaders do that, people think: they get it.
Second, talk about the plan to overcome the challenge. It may take days, months or years, but there is a plan. Here are the components.
Third, offer hope – and a reason to be hopeful. The most effective leaders genuinely believe what they are saying.
Looking back at Hurricane Katrina, one reason recovery was so difficult and delayed was that everyone talked about what was not working. Too much debris. Nothing happening. No one cares.
No one talked about hope – giving people any sense that they could get through it.
When I work with communities and organizations, I encourage them to recognize milestones in recovery, however insignificant they may seem. A reopened school. Power restored to a neighborhood. Something positive to hold onto.
Natalia
It’s another powerful rule of three: Challenge. Plan. Hope. A framework leaders would do well to remember.
This has been an excellent conversation. I truly enjoyed it. Thank you so much, Ed.
Earlier chats in the Resilience Unfiltered Series:
Margaret Brigley on evidence over echo chambers in crisis decisions
A coffee chat with Richard Brown: Leading global comms across cultural divides
Dr. Matt Tidwell: crises, values and media readiness in a divided world
Anne Marie Aikins on proactive reputation management in ‘good and really bad times’
Coffee chat with Kim Clark: is there a way to get layoffs right?
A coffee break Q&A with Alexander Rau: “Cyber resilience is a marathon, not a sprint”
A coffee Q&A with Helio Fred Garcia: the agony of decisions and the power of patterns in a crisis
A coffee Q&A with Christal Austin: climate emergency & disaster preparedness
Coffee with Dr. Ian Mitroff: thinking the unthinkable
Natalia Smalyuk is an award-winning advisor and trainer specializing in strategic communication, crisis resilience and stakeholder engagement. She leads NBAU, a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certified communication consultancy. What is NBAU? Not Business as Usual. Why NBAU? Because there’s no such thing as business as usual for leaders navigating volatility and risk across a complex global landscape.
NBAU supports organizations in building resilience before, during and after adverse events through planning, training and scenario exercises that broaden the understanding of crises and enable positive action in an uncertain world. Our Resilience Unfiltered Series encourages open dialogue on tough issues that rarely makes it onto conference stages. The NBAU Baseline Readiness Checklist helps organizations discover their minimum threshold of preparedness – often noticed by its absence in a crisis. Our new “Tip of the Week” feature offers quick nuggets of insight for busy executives who don’t have time for long reads. Ready to start your resilience journey? Email nsmalyuk@nbau.ca to book a complimentary one-hour consultation.