Responsible Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World

This chapter considers the roles and responsibilities of organizational leaders in anticipating, preparing for, and responding to crisis events. It discusses the role of responsible leadership that is informed, inclusive, and transparent in preparing contemporary organizations to address the expectations of employees, customers, and other organizational stakeholders as together we seek to understand, embrace, and engage in the “new normal” of our post-pandemic world. The challenges of balancing stakeholder expectations with traditional organizational goals are considered, as are goals associated with fulfilling an organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. A crisis management process is presented and serves as a lens through which enlightened organizational leaders can understand, embrace, and enact their roles as responsible leaders. While lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic serve to illustrate the importance of responsible leadership in times of crisis, responsible leaders should also anticipate and prepare for the more frequent, but less severe and consequential, future crisis situations that their organizations are likely to face.