Presenter, Crisis Masterclass

Melissa Agnes, creator of the Crisis Ready® Model.

Founder and CEO of the Crisis Ready Institute, best-selling author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, and the presenter of every session of the Crisis Masterclass. Her Crisis Ready course is available in Australasia only through My PR Partner.

  • Founder, Crisis Ready Institute (USA)
  • Creator of the Crisis Ready® Model
  • Exclusive to My PR Partner in Australasia
Learn with Melissa in the Crisis MasterclassRead her articles

Who is Melissa Agnes?

Melissa Agnes is a recognised leading authority on crisis communication, crisis leadership and brand protection. Based in the United States, she founded the Crisis Ready Institute and created the Crisis Ready® Model, which has been globally recognised as having elevated industry best practice. She has worked with ministries of foreign affairs and defence, NATO and many other leading organisations, and is a regular contributor to media outlets across North America.

In Australasia, her Crisis Ready course is delivered exclusively through the My PR Partner Crisis Masterclass: twelve monthly sessions presented by Melissa, with workbooks in her words and a monthly Q&A alongside Lyall Mercer of CRC Public Relations. The core ideas of the course, including the Validate, Relate, Prove formula and the issue-versus-crisis framework, are set out in her own words in the articles on this page.

What she teaches

The ideas that run through the Crisis Ready® course

Each of these is a month of the Crisis Masterclass. The articles below are Melissa's own explanation of each one.

Crisis ready is a culture, not a document

A plan that sits on a shelf is not readiness. Melissa defines crisis ready as being culturally prepared for anything that can hurt people, the environment, the economy or the business. Read about the crisis response penalty.

Issue or crisis: the label decides the response

A crisis stops business as usual, needs escalation straight to the top and threatens material impact. Getting the label wrong in either direction carries a penalty. Run the five-question check.

You cannot beat emotion with logic

Fear puts people into survival mode and takes the reasoning brain offline. Validate the emotion, relate to what people care about, then prove. Read the formula.

Four levels of safety

Physical, psychological, emotional and energetic. A leader is responsible for all four, and most only think about the first. The four levels explained.

A crisis is an onion

The story is never told once. Layer it, say it more than once, and take people with you to where the organisation is going. See it done at Maple Leaf Foods.

In her own words

Articles by Melissa Agnes

Drawn from her Crisis Ready Institute newsletters and the sessions of the Crisis Masterclass, each piece is Melissa's writing with a short frame from My PR Partner. New articles appear here as they publish.

A composed executive delivering a high-stakes statement to a hushed room, warm light against a dark backdropCrisis

The High-Stakes Comms Formula that Actually Works

Most crisis statements lead with facts and wonder why nobody responds. Melissa Agnes explains the Validate, Relate, Prove order that gets a high-stakes message heard, straight from her Crisis Ready Institute newsletter.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

10 Sept 2026

7 min read

Close-up editorial photo of a smartphone screen showing a fractured, glitching image against a hazy city skyline at duskCrisis

The AI That Erased a Database, and Lied: How to Correct a Falsehood in Public

A faked Pentagon photo moved the stock market; an AI coding agent later erased a company's database and lied about recovering it. Melissa Agnes's three-step way to correct a public falsehood, and what both incidents reveal about AI crisis risk.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

9 Sept 2026

8 min read

A council chief executive stands at a glass office window at dusk on a Friday, phone in handCrisis

Issue or Crisis? Why the Label Decides the Response

Melissa Agnes's framework for telling an issue from a crisis, built on scale of impact and escalation, not gut feeling. Includes her crisis, issue and emergency definitions and the continuum a crisis ready organisation tries to stay inside.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

8 Sept 2026

6 min read

A composed crisis communications leader at a table while colleagues around them show visible tension in a dim meeting room.Crisis

You Cannot Beat Emotion With Logic: What Happens to People in a Crisis

When a crisis hits, the brain moves into survival mode before logic gets a say. Melissa Agnes explains why emotion in crisis communication has to be met first, and the validate, relate, prove formula that does it.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

7 Sept 2026

7 min read

A boardroom crisis communication plan binder sitting closed and dusty on an office shelfCrisis

Hope Is Not a Strategy: The Crisis Response Penalty Explained

Most organisations think crisis readiness means a plan on a shelf. Melissa Agnes explains why that mindset creates a crisis response penalty, and what a crisis ready culture actually looks like instead.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

6 Sept 2026

6 min read

A composed leader sitting still and steady while colleagues around a crisis meeting table appear tense and rushedCrisis

The Calmest Person in the Room: Leading a Crisis From a Regulated Nervous System

Crisis trainer Melissa Agnes argues that a leader's own steadiness, not their messaging, is what actually calms a crisis room. This is the business-safe cut of her session on equanimity, regulation and writing from a clear head instead of a frightened one.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

5 Sept 2026

6 min read

Close-up of translucent onion layers glowing from within, each ring lit softly against a dark navy background.Crisis

A Crisis Is an Onion: Why the Story Is Never Told Once

Melissa Agnes explains why a crisis is never told in one statement: it unfolds like an onion, layer by layer, and storytelling is the tool that carries each layer. The BBC's 2014 WhatsApp Ebola service is her proof it works.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

4 Sept 2026

6 min read

A lone executive in a dark suit addressing a bank of television cameras and microphones in a boardroomCrisis

From Tragedy to Trust: What Maple Leaf Foods Did in 2008

In 2008, a listeria outbreak killed at least 22 people and threatened to end Maple Leaf Foods. This case study breaks down why CEO Michael McCain's response, verified against the public record, became a benchmark other crisis leaders still study today.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

3 Sept 2026

7 min read

A calm leader crouching to speak at eye level with a distressed colleague in a quiet corridor.Crisis

The Four Levels of Safety a Leader Owes People in a Crisis

Physical safety is only one of four levels a crisis leader is responsible for creating. Melissa Agnes names psychological, emotional and energetic safety as the other three, and explains why control is not the same as leadership.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

2 Sept 2026

5 min read

A community member speaking with a raised hand in a tense public meeting, other attendees watchingCrisis

Anger Is a Veil Emotion: What Is Really Happening When Stakeholders Get Angry

Anger is usually the loudest emotion in a crisis, but Melissa Agnes calls it a veil: it rarely sits alone. Here is how to read what anger is covering, and what disappointment, fear, grief and relief actually need from a leader.

Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes

1 Sept 2026

6 min read

Everything in these articles is taught in full, with workbooks and a monthly Q&A, inside the Crisis Masterclass.

See inside the 12 months

Watch

Melissa Agnes on leadership under pressure

Two talks from Melissa's own channel that sit closest to what the Crisis Masterclass teaches. The course sessions themselves are recorded for members only.

How to Be a Visionary Leader in Uncertain Times

Melissa on the long view a crisis leader has to hold, the theme of month six of the Crisis Masterclass.

You Can't Lead From Survival Mode: How to Shift Out of Stress Fast

The nervous-system side of crisis leadership, which months three to five of the Crisis Masterclass build on.

The full course, twelve sessions with Melissa, is $340 a month with a ten-day free trial.

See the Crisis Masterclass

Background

About Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes is the founder and CEO of the Crisis Ready Institute and the creator of the Crisis Ready® Model. Her book, Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, set out the idea that runs through everything she teaches: readiness is a culture, connection is the goal, and you cannot beat emotion with logic.

She has advised ministries of foreign affairs and defence, NATO and many other leading organisations on building brands that can withstand the most damaging events, and she is a regular contributor to media outlets across North America. In the Crisis Masterclass she presents every session, writes the workbook that accompanies it, and joins Lyall Mercer for the monthly Q&A.

Leadership is not about rank. Leadership is about impact. So I really don't care where you sit on the organizational chart. If you are an intern at a brand new organization, fresh out of college, and you're listening to this, you're watching this, you have the most tremendous opportunity to step into this next evolution of your own leadership.
Melissa Agnes, Crisis Ready® course, session 1, My PR Partner Crisis Masterclass

Melissa is one of the expert trainers behind My PR Partner's programs. Her work appears in the Crisis Masterclass and in the crisis modules of the business and schools programs.

Common questions

Questions about Melissa Agnes and the course

Can I take Melissa Agnes's Crisis Ready course in Australia?

Yes. In Australasia the Crisis Ready course is delivered exclusively through the My PR Partner Crisis Masterclass, a 12-month online program with a session from Melissa each month, workbooks, a monthly Q&A and a certificate endorsed by CRC Public Relations.

Does Melissa Agnes take part live?

Each month's session is a recorded video presented by Melissa for the Australasian program. The monthly Q&A is a live discussion with Melissa Agnes and Lyall Mercer, with member questions submitted in advance.

What is the Crisis Ready® Model?

The Crisis Ready® Model is Melissa Agnes's approach to crisis readiness as a culture rather than a plan: mindset, skillset and capabilities built before a crisis, with connection as the goal of every crisis communication. The Crisis Masterclass works through it over twelve months.

Is her book part of the course?

The course stands on its own. Melissa's book, Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, is useful background reading and is referenced in the sessions, but it is not required.

Enrol

Learn crisis leadership from the person who wrote the model

Twelve monthly sessions with Melissa Agnes, workbooks in her words, and a monthly Q&A with Melissa and Lyall Mercer. Exclusive to My PR Partner in Australasia.

See the Crisis MasterclassSee inside the 12 months