29/01/2026
“Crises are not unexpected events. We may not know the timing, but we know they will happen.”
This line from Stakeholder Leadership in Crises, recently the most-read article in its publication series, captures a quiet but powerful shift in how leadership must evolve.
The article draws on a longitudinal research study conducted in collaboration with the Indus Hospital and Health Network during COVID-19 and challenges a deeply rooted assumption: that crises arrive without warning.
The research highlights three ideas that feel especially relevant today:
🔹 Crisis as Expected
Many modern crises are foreseeable. Treating them as surprises leads to delay and compounding failure.
🔹 Purpose as an Ethical Anchor
Organizations grounded in purpose make clearer moral decisions when pressure is highest.
🔹 Stakeholder Leadership
Distributed leadership where responsibility is shared and senior leaders engage operationally enables faster, more ethical responses.
As institutions face overlapping crises across health, climate, technology, and geopolitics, this research offers a globally relevant leadership lens.
Prem Menghwar is co-author of “Rethinking Crisis as Expected: Stakeholder Leadership in Navigating Ethical Dilemmas and Avoiding Polycrises,” with Fabian Homberg, Zafar Zaidi and Ashar Alam, published in the Journal of Business Ethics (2025).
👉 Read the article:
https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/stakeholder-leadership-in-crises
👉 Read the full research paper (Springer):
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-025-06037-2
Question for leaders:
Are you preparing for the next expected crisis, or waiting to be surprised?
