www.hbr.org

HBR CASE STUDY

How should Gerald Smarten balance the needs of Kaspa and the community?

The CEO Can’t Afford to Panic by Eric J. McNulty
•

Reprint R1003X
Purchased by robert duboff (robert.duboff@hawkpartners.com) on January 12, 2012

In an unthinkable crisis, a bank’s chief executive has to make a fast decision.

HBR CASE STUDY

The CEO Can’t Afford to Panic by Eric J. McNulty

COPYRIGHT © 2010 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Gerald Smarten, CEO of Kaspa Financial Services, was presiding over the regular Tuesday morning executive committee meeting in the glass-walled conference room that looked east over Massachusetts Bay. The management team was wrestling with
Certain words from the reporter cut through the confusion: “attack,” “chemical,” “fatalities.” But nothing was confirmed yet. Smarten noticed Dana Rossi, the chief investment officer, in the far corner of the room with her BlackBerry held to one ear and her finger in the other. He knew that Rossi would be on the phone to the trading desk two floors below them. Markets were faster than the media in spreading news—especially bad news. If this was a simple subway accident, there wouldn’t be a blip. If futures headed sharply down, it would indicate that this was part of something larger. Rossi returned Smarten’s gaze and shrugged her shoulders. He looked back at Kaczmarek. “Where’s Schlesinger? Get him up here now,” he ordered. As if on cue, Paul Schlesinger burst into the room, slightly out of breath. Everyone stopped talking to hear what their security chief had to say. “I just got off the phone with my contact at the police department. It’s a bomb. No indication of chemicals or radioactive material at this point. Extensive casualties and fatalities. There’s been an explosion at North Station, too,” he said. “It’s a coordinated attack. That’s all he can tell me.”

“Do we evacuate?” Kaczmarek asked. She glanced at Hicks’s computer screen, which showed a reporter interviewing a woman with tears streaming down her dust-covered face. Simultaneous attacks on