This chapter examines how leaders can reduce the chances of falling victim to a policy fiasco by utilizing the lessons from research and practice to help them avoid common failures of collaborative crisis management. Five failures—of imagination, initiative, coordination and cooperation, credibility, and learning—that need to be avoided are identified and discussed. The examination of each failure is followed by a presentation of the prescriptions leaders and organizations can take to diminish their occurrence and improve their ability to cope with them. The chapter concludes by discussing how to improve collaborative crisis management through the mobilization of critical knowledge and scientific advice to improve planning, training, preparedness, capacity building, and, when needed, the effective management of crises.