Chapter 6: Campus in Crisis: Leadership Lessons Learned

Organizational crises can wreak havoc in an institution. When such crises ensue, leaders are tasked with decisions that often need to be made quickly and effectively. When not responded to adequately, consequences can include leader regrets of improper response, high costs to the organization, loss of leadership position, or even arrests or jail time for a leader. This chapter describes all these repercussions as it summarizes the Jerry Sandusky case and highlights the crisis that took place on the campus at Penn State University. In illustrating the University leaders’ response to the crisis, leadership lessons learned from the case were gleaned. They include increased transparency, greater reflectivity, ethical decision-making, and periodic assessment of organizational culture.