This study explores the pivotal role of leadership in establishing effective crisis communication strategies, revisiting the three-stage model of crisis management. By integrating the pre-crisis, crisis-event, and post-crisis stages with the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and Image Restoration Theory, the research presents a comprehensive framework for leaders to anticipate, respond to, and recover from organizational crises. Through a meta-analysis of prior studies, the study highlights how leadership characteristics, decision-making, and communication strategies influence organizational resilience, stakeholder trust, and overall crisis outcomes. The proposed integrated model emphasizes customizing responses according to crisis type, severity, history, and priority audiences, demonstrating that proactive and strategic leadership can transform crises into opportunities for learning, innovation, and organizational growth.