Own, Verify, and Resolve Crisis Playbook
Own the problem, establish facts, tell the truth, and engineer a soft landing.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 99%
The playbook begins by making one leader explicitly accountable for the crisis, eliminating defensive claims that the issue belongs elsewhere. That owner assembles the relevant people, evidence, and competing accounts, then works to establish a shared chronology rather than accepting the internal team’s version alone. Each claim is trusted provisionally but verified. Once the facts are stable, the leader identifies what can realistically be repaired, communicates candidly about what happened, and explains the remedy. Where money cannot resolve damaged expectations, ego, or trust, the leader reconstructs why the outcome failed and what conditions were missing. The output is not necessarily a happy stakeholder, but a satisfied one and the softest available landing.
Origin
Gary Cohn described the method he used as Goldman Sachs president and COO when unusual client, transaction, or organizational problems reached him. Extracted from Masters in Business.
Core principles
- 01Ownership removes ambiguity about who will lead the response.
- 02Facts must be agreed upon before remedies are designed.
- 03Every account should be trusted but independently verified.
- 04Candor and a realistic remedy usually restore confidence.
- 05The goal is the softest feasible landing, not universal happiness.
How to run it
- 1
Take ownership
Declare the crisis your responsibility and become accountable for getting it resolved. Do not let organizational boundaries turn into excuses.
Pro tip Use a single clearly identified owner even when several teams contributed to the problem.
Watch out Disowning the issue encourages finger-pointing and delays containment.
- 2
Assemble the facts
Bring the evidence, chronology, and knowledgeable participants into the room. Separate confirmed events from assumptions and interpretations.
Pro tip Build a shared timeline before debating remedies.
Watch out A confident internal narrative is not necessarily a complete one.
- 3
Hear and verify both sides
Seek the other party’s account whenever one exists, then independently verify material claims. Resolve disagreements about the facts before moving forward.
Pro tip Ask what evidence would change each side’s interpretation.
Watch out Trust without verification can embed the original error in the solution.
- 4
Diagnose the real obstacle
Determine whether the dispute is primarily financial, operational, interpersonal, or rooted in promises that were never achievable. Identify any conditions that were required but did not occur.
Pro tip Distinguish a compensable loss from a broken-expectations problem.
Watch out Money alone will not repair ego, mistrust, or an impossible commitment.
- 5
Tell the truth and rectify
Explain what happened, acknowledge the organization’s contribution, and present a realistic corrective plan. State plainly when the original outcome cannot be delivered.
Pro tip Pair every admission with a specific next action.
Watch out Do not promise a remedy that depends on conditions you cannot control.
- 6
Engineer the softest landing
Guide all parties toward the most satisfactory feasible resolution and establish how recurrence will be reduced. Accept that satisfaction, rather than happiness, may be the realistic standard.
Pro tip Confirm that affected parties understand both the remedy and its limits.
Watch out Pursuing unanimous happiness can prolong a dispute after a workable resolution exists.
In the wild
When a client blamed Goldman for a deal that could not get done, Cohn’s process was to own his team’s role, reconstruct the missing conditions, and acknowledge if the client should have been warned six weeks earlier. The response shifted from assigning blame to explaining why the transaction was impossible and what should have been communicated.
→ The client received an honest diagnosis and a path toward the softest feasible resolution.
As counterparties failed and liquidity tightened, Goldman reassigned its strongest people to the firm’s own funding position and pursued liquidity almost regardless of cost. The firm quickly accepted Warren Buffett’s time-limited financing proposal and followed it with a secondary equity raise.
→ Goldman reinforced market confidence and its liquidity position during an industry-wide crisis.
Common mistakes
Treating the crisis as someone else’s problem
Senior leaders lose valuable time when they debate jurisdiction instead of naming an accountable owner. At the COO level, cross-firm problems are inherently part of the role.
Accepting only the internal account
A team’s perspective may omit facts visible to the client or counterparty. The leader must obtain and verify both sides.
Trying to buy away every conflict
Compensation may address a direct loss but cannot by itself resolve broken expectations, personality conflicts, or an outcome that was never feasible.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for senior leaders resolving high-stakes failures, disputed transactions, and multi-party conflicts.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for emergencies requiring instant physical action before facts can be assembled.
From the transcript
“I always believe you have to own the problem. I mean, ownership is ninety percent of the battle.”
“problem arises number one, get all of the facts into the room. Try and agree upon the facts.”
“You've got to trust but verify everything.”
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