I've been lucky enough to see many executives handle crises first hand. Sometimes the crisis is a small deal or employee issue, and sometimes it's a large issue such as what we're going through with the coronavirus. While I've seen great leadership responses, I've also witnessed bad ones.
Whenever a crisis occurs, it is always met with some amount of panic and fear. However, when it's all over, new opportunities always arise. The opportunities can be business related such as a new emerging market, or even in changing customer behavior.
All it took was one question-- eight words exactly-- to get a man I've never met before to tell me his life story. At first, he was at a table next talking to one of his good friends about a restaurant he owns.