Leading People Through Disasters

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Prologue

How HR Started Leading—First by Accident and Then by Design

Kathryn McKee

The following is a first-person account of how the Human Resources staff members of First Interstate Bancorp, First Interstate Bank of California, and First Interstate Bank Limited (since acquired by Wells Fargo) learned through their experiences with earthquakes, a building fire, and a civil disturbance to deal with crises and to lead their colleagues and employees through them.

Introduction

Human Resources leaders are constantly on call to solve unexpected problems: the need for a sudden staff reduction, rumors in the marketplace about a hostile takeover bid, and new, secret plans for management and organization changes. We drop whatever we’re working on and ...