This thesis is divided into five chapters that go through the theory of leadership roles in crisis situations and finally a concrete example of crisis in reality. Initially, strategic leadership is conceptually defined with an explanation of concepts such as the introduction of organizational change, analysis of the role of the leader in the development of organizations and introduction to methods of capacity development for successful leadership. Then it is about the specifics of management during crisis situations where the types of business crises, that can affect the company are first defined, and then described how the crisis team works and how it is established. Also, the same chapter provides an overview of potential risks, how to identify and classify them in order to better implement the crisis management process and use it to improve and strengthen the company's position in the market. The research part of the paper is related to the case study of a concrete example of enterprise crisis in the real business world. The role of the strategic leadership of the Volkswagen Group in the "Dieselgate" affair was analyzed, where most attention was paid to the first reactions of the management when the crisis occurred and their strategy of communication with the environment and also discovering the causes of the affair.