Eric McNulty (l) with program director, Steve Goldman

It was a great pleasure to return to MIT this week to speak at the Business Continuity and Crisis Planning executive education course. It’s my fourth consecutive year. I always enjoy engaging on meta-leadership with a group that walks the talk on the front lines. This year, about 40% of the group came from outside the U.S. and they represented organizations from large multinationals to at least one start up. Participants asked smart questions as we discussed meta-leadership. Their organizations should see dividends from their investment in training–my talk was just one session in a packed, practical, and powerful week-long program.

In this session, I used the Boston Marathon bombing response as context to discuss how the brain works under stress (and how to get “smarter than your brain”), moving beyond situational awareness to situational understanding, and forging a connected system that “swarms” to rapidly identify problems and apply sustainable solutions.

The leadership and management concepts, tools, and techniques participants acquire during the week will be put to the test when they return to work. I feel confident that they will be up to the challenges ahead.