Thanks for underscoring this point, Michael. Strong leadership would have gone a long way in calming Main Street and Wall Street. I'd add another lesson learned to the mix: that there is a consequence to what our leaders say in times of crisis and how they say it.

My hope and trust is that business and political leaders will take this lesson to heart -- and not only implement crisis communications plans throughout their organizations, but practice them, early and often. The best responses we've seen from our financial institutions thus far have come from those leaders who were out in front of the crisis -- fast, publicly and with transparent and responsible messaging.