Harvard Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness 2026–2027: Bring Harvard NPLI Crisis Leadership Training to Your Community

Harvard Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness 2026–2027: Bring Harvard NPLI Crisis Leadership Training to Your Community

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), Harvard University – Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness – Local Communities

Complete guide to eligibility, benefits, responsibilities, and application process

Quick Highlights

Opportunity Overview

About the Crisis Leadership Summits

The Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness bring Harvard-trained crisis leadership education directly into local communities, creating an opportunity for leaders from government, business, nonprofit organizations, public safety, public health, faith-based organizations, human services, and other sectors to prepare collectively for increasingly complex emergencies.

Convened within participating communities and taught by Harvard NPLI faculty and experienced crisis leaders, these 1–1.5-day summits are designed around the reality that effective disaster preparedness cannot depend on a single institution or sector. Modern crises often cross organizational, geographic, and professional boundaries.

What Are Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness?

The Crisis Leadership Summit is a community-based leadership training seminar developed through the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard.

The program is built around the concept of Meta-Leadership, a leadership approach developed through more than two decades of research, teaching, and practical experience in crisis preparedness and response.

Rather than focusing only on the responsibilities of a single organization, Meta-Leadership emphasizes the ability to:

• Understand the wider system

• Connect different organizations

• Coordinate leadership across institutional and sectoral boundaries

Who Should Participate?

Participants can include representatives from:

Key Features of the Program

Why Cross-Sector Crisis Leadership Matters

Disasters rarely affect only one organization. A major flood, wildfire, pandemic, cyber incident, infrastructure failure, public health emergency, extreme weather event, or other crisis can simultaneously affect government services, businesses, healthcare systems, schools, transportation, community organizations, families, and vulnerable populations.

The Crisis Leadership Summit focuses on strengthening relationships before a crisis happens.

The underlying principle: Communities should know who they need to work with before they need to work together under emergency conditions.

Understanding Meta-Leadership

The Crisis Leadership Summit curriculum is based on Meta-Leadership, a framework developed through extensive research, practice, and teaching at Harvard.

Meta-Leadership focuses on leadership beyond the boundaries of a single organization.

Instead of asking only "How can my organization respond?" leaders are encouraged to consider broader questions such as:

• What is happening across the entire system?

• Which organizations and leaders are affected?

• What information does each sector possess?

• Where are the dependencies between organizations?

• How can leaders coordinate their actions?

• How can organizations communicate effectively during uncertainty?

• Where are potential gaps in the response?

• How can leaders work collectively toward a common objective?

Customized Crisis Simulations

A major component of the Summit is its use of customized crisis simulations. Rather than relying exclusively on theoretical discussion, the program can incorporate simulations designed around the participating community's unique risk profile.

A community's simulation could be informed by risks relevant to its particular context, such as:

• Natural disasters

• Extreme weather

• Public health emergencies

• Infrastructure disruption

• Community safety challenges

• Supply-chain disruption

• Major emergencies affecting essential services

• Complex events requiring coordination between multiple organizations

What Participants Can Gain

Impact in Action: Springfield, Missouri Summit

The program highlights the Springfield, Missouri Crisis Leadership Summit, held in October 2025, as an example of the initiative's community-level reach.

The reported figures include:

• 316 cross-sector community leaders

• 65 organizations represented

• 4 customized crisis simulations

Program Details at a Glance

How to Apply

Application Link: https://npli.sph.harvard.edu

Important Dates

Important Links

Frequently Asked Questions

CareerFlora Expert Insight

The Harvard Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness 2026–2027 offers a unique opportunity for communities to bring Harvard NPLI's crisis leadership education directly into their local context. The program's emphasis on Meta-Leadership, cross-sector collaboration, and customized crisis simulations provides leaders with meaningful tools and relationships to strengthen community preparedness.

The community-based format, combined with the opportunity to learn from Harvard NPLI faculty and experienced crisis leaders, ensures that participating communities receive high-quality exposure to cutting-edge crisis leadership training and global best practices.

Best Opportunity For

Competition Level

CareerFlora Recommendation

Final Call-to-Action

Apply for Harvard Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness 2026–2027 as soon as possible.

Visit the official NPLI website: https://npli.sph.harvard.edu

Review the Crisis Leadership Summits for Preparedness program details

Complete the application form

Submit before the program date

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