By Barbara Brown
For the Journal

Editor's note: In partnership with Leadership Anchorage, the Alaska Journal of Commerce will publish portions of conversations from Leadership Anchorage's on-stage conversations, held at the Z.J. Loussac Public Library. This year's theme is "Rising to the Occasion: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things."

Michael Sartisky is president and executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, which is headquartered in New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees broke, the nature of his job changed overnight. When faced with sudden and dramatic change, how does a manager rise to the occasion? And what issues rise to the surface?

"Imagine if one of you walked out into the parking lot following this event and your battery was dead. What would happen? One of the other people in the room would help you jump your battery, and off you would go. Or you would pull out your cell phone and call someone for help. Imagine if you left this event, walked out to the parking lot, and ALL your batteries were dead ... and none of your cell phones were working."

After the hurricane, Sartisky's 18-member staff was scattered to eight states. With an e-mail address here, a phone number there, they were able to cobble together a "tribal network" to locate everyone. It took 10 days. The word sent out was simple: On Sept. 19, be in Prairieville, a new satellite location, ready to start work.

At any point, did Sartisky decide to do triage, to decide that some programs weren't worth reestablishing, that there were bigger fish to fry in New Orleans? "No, this was the little parcel of the world that was assigned to me ... We did the exact opposite. We weren't going to surrender anything. The goal was to get 100 percent of the staff back, to get 100 percent of the programs up and running." While some nonprofits, such as a university, decided to cancel classes, "(In my organization,) we didn't say, 'Oh, come in when you can.' We said, 'Be in the office 8-to-5. If you need time, request it, and it will be granted.'"

First off, Sartisky said, his agency is a statewide one that serves a statewide mission, not just New Orleans. Secondly, there were new needs: "Those of us who work in the cultural sector, we don't think it's a frill ... We were doing family literacy programs three days after the storm, in the evacuation centers. What other occasions in their lives would families need the kind of bonding, the kind of comforting that comes from families reading with their children?"

Crisis brought new needs and new directions; it also brought a sense of importance. "In those first months, we all were rushing to defend this place that we love. If that was a sprint, now we're in the middle distance ... and it's a slog." These are hard times; morale becomes key in fighting off pending financial cutbacks, the frustration of a still-missing infrastructure, and the anxiety accompanying the next hurricane season.

"I never evacuated before," Sartisky said. "Am I now going to be evacuating at the drop of a hat? Actually, I'm getting a bigger boat. I had kayaks before; this time, I'm putting a motor on."

On Sept. 19 at 7 p.m., KSKA FM 91.1 will air the on-stage, Leadership Anchorage conversation with Dixie that took place before a live audience at the Z.J. Loussac Public Library. The broadcasts continue every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. through Oct. 10. Programs can also be accessed at www.kska.org.