Crisis in the Dark: Why it is so Important to be Prepared (Part 2)
Don Goldberg
In the previous article, leveraging ChatGPT, I looked at three major crises involving large, well-known companies that were totally unprepared for what hit them—even though there were plenty of warning signs. In this post, I wanted to look at lesser-known companies that were clearly unprepared, even though the consequences were severe and widely covered. These […]
In the previous article, leveraging ChatGPT, I looked at three major crises involving large, well-known companies that were totally unprepared for what hit them—even though there were plenty of warning signs. In this post, I wanted to look at lesser-known companies that were clearly unprepared, even though the consequences were severe and widely covered. These are more relatable to most executives because they weren’t well-known, at least not until disaster struck.
Champlain Towers South Condominium Association Collapse (2021)
What happened: A 12-story residential condo building in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed, killing 98 people.
Why they were unprepared: Long-documented structural warnings were deferred rather than addressed, and there was no emergency planning for partial structural failure. In addition, and perhaps more significantly, the building’s leadership had no crisis protocol for resident communication or rapid evacuation.
The result: No one can forget the images of the building collapse, nor the numerous casualties as a result. What followed were criminal investigations, massive civil liability, and a national reckoning on building safety. The association was administratively and operationally incapable of handling a catastrophic failure, despite years of warning signs.
Change Healthcare Cyberattack (2024)
What happened: A ransomware attack crippled a critical healthcare payment and claims-processing intermediary, disrupting hospitals, pharmacies, and patients nationwide.
Why they were unprepared: First, they had an over-centralized system that created a single point of failure. They had no effective business-continuity plan for a prolonged outage. And worst of all, their initial communications were slow, opaque, and overly technical.
The result: Weeks-long disruptions to prescription access and provider cash flow. Though little known to the public beforehand, Change Healthcare turned out to be systemically important—and totally unready for crisis visibility.
Maui Emergency Management Agency Wildfire Alert Failure (2023)
What happened: During the Lahaina wildfires, emergency sirens were not activated and public alerts were inconsistent, contributing to confusion and loss of life.
Why they were unprepared: There was no clear decision authority for siren activation. Assumptions about public response were outdated. And there was virtually no redundancy in emergency communications.
The result: We all saw the media coverage from the beginning, leading to public outrage, leadership resignations, and extensive investigations. The agency was operationally overwhelmed the moment its systems were most needed.
Again, there’s a clear connection among these three examples, and all lead to the same conclusion: preparing ahead of time is essential. Unlike global brands, these organizations operated below public visibility—until crisis thrust them into the spotlight. Each assumed their risks were manageable, rare, or someone else’s responsibility. When failure came, they had neither the muscle memory nor the messaging discipline to respond effectively.
Part 3 will take a look at examples where there were no natural disasters or structural collapse—only human error.
