The last decade has seen a range of natural disasters of significant proportions that have resulted in the destruction of substantial amounts of property and loss of life.  Many of these disasters can be described as out of scale events because they are infrequent, novel or of a magnitude beyond that usually experienced.  The Noetic Group has undertaken comprehensive lessons learnt processes for a number of these events.  One of the key findings when reviewing these reports is a pattern of senior leadership failure.  This failure has not been one of character, but rather one of preparation and understanding.  This presentation will review how this failure has occurred by examining the outcomes of Noetic’s review of the evidence.  In particular, it will focus on the importance of leadership, planning, the use of intelligence and the allocation of resources.  The presentation will then cover what can be done to better prepare senior leaders for out of scale events.  This includes the selection, preparation, training of leaders and their teams, and performance management.  The presentation will also cover some tools and approaches that can be employed by senior leaders and their teams.