Taking Decisive Action in a Crisis

Cynthia Carroll was only a few months into leading the global mining firm Anglo American when she suspended operations in their South African platinum mine. She was concerned about worker fatalities there. But it was an unprecedented move, and it came at a huge cost for the company.

Harvard Kennedy School of Government research fellow Gautam Mukunda explains how Carroll, who he profiled in a business case, used that temporary shutdown to make changes to the company culture at Anglo American.

“This is the most complex environment I have ever studied for a corporate leader to operate in,” Mukunda tells Cold Call host Brian Kenny. “All of the stakes here are about as high as they can get.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, cross-cultural management, cultural awareness, managing yourself, culture change, managing stakeholders, energy and natural resources, decision making, unconventional leaders, ethics.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Dangerous Mines: Saving Lives Through Leadership (Sept. 2016)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.