Mistakes are good provided you learn from them, and correct them promptly.

Too often, clients want us to give them a one-size-fits-all crisis management plan from off the shelf. Some of our competitors do this because it's fast and cheap. They build a plan once and keep using the same plan over and over with other clients.

When I wrote my first book, Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable, it was endorsed by the American Management Association, and consequently was read by America's top corporate leaders, and overnight put me in high demand as a consultant and as a speaker. Also, that book forever changed the way businesses look at and deal with crises by giving a tangible feel to an otherwise intangible subject.

A moderate amount of stress - not too much, not too little - generally means you understand the problem and are psychologically stoked to solve it. Moderate stress yields the best, most optimum performance in a crisis.

I often say that good crisis management is good decision-making under stress.

Unfortunately, today's colleges and universities, and especially our business schools, do not offer pragmatic crisis management teachings.

Too often, business schools teach academic crisis management theory, if that, but given the diverse and unique nature of crises, all the theory in the world will not help you manage an actual crisis unless you know the basic mechanics.