Preparing for the Unexpected

Join me, as I talk with long-time insurance control expert, Chris Snider. Insurance in the Resilience/BCM industry has been a topic I've wanted to cover for a long time and Chris does a great job of explaining how insurance really works, using understandable and relatable language. All corporate leaders, business continuity and resilience professionals need to understand how insurance policies and providers work with you, rather than assuming how they work or believing that by having a policy in place you're protected. During our chat, Chris touches on: 1. Myths of insurance, 2. Working through risk assessments, 3. Insurance Policies, 4. Asking 'What if..., 5. Insurance providers and risks, 6. Incorporating emergency risks, 7. Including insurance as a member of your BCM steering committee (and the benefits of doing that), 8. What organizations can do to keep premiums low, 9. Proactive vs reactive, 10. Bill S211 and the impact upon insurers and organizations, 11. Bill S211 and its relation to supply chain management...and more. A very insightful discussion where Chris clarifies how insurance providers can actually help you BCM and resilience programs. Don't miss what Chris has to say. Enjoy!

Join me Thursday, March 14/24 at 1pm EST, as I talk with internationally recognized Business Resilience, Crisis Management, Risk/Crisis Communications, IT Disaster Recovery and Crisis Leadership expert and consultant, Dr. Steven Goldman. During out discussion, Dr. Goldman talks about: 1. The difference between a drill and an exercise, 2. Why exercises are important, 3. Getting others involved (e.g., vendors, 1st responders...), 4. Exercising people AND plans, 5. Exercises and politics (and how to deal with it), 6. Knowing roles, 7. Uncovering assumptions during drills and exercises, 8. Shift Management (a staggered approach), 9. Observers and evaluators, 10. The Planning Checklist, 11. Dealing with checklist thinking, 12. Unannounced drills, 13. Lessons Learned (and what to do about them), 14. Measuring successes and failures during exercises...and much more! Dr. Goldman does a great job of sharing personal experiences with drills and exercises, providing some great insights in how we can make our own exercises effective. Don't miss what Dr. Goldman has to say. You can reach him at goldman@mit.edu. Enjoy!

I'm joined by long-time Emergency Management professional and the author of 'Promoting the Dog Sitter, and Other Principles from Leading During Disasters, Edward L Conley. During my talk with Ed we touch on: 1. Crisis Leadership, 2. Social Media impacts (and the bad actors involved), 3. Emergency Management defined, 4. Lessons from history, 5. Being able to ensure you can 'respond' well before anything else (and why), 6. Five core values and principles, 7. Showing up vs Showing off, 8. Blame, Hide, or Own (and recognizing the difference in leaders), 9. How the title 'Promoting the Dog Sitter' came about, and how this story evolved (It's a heart warming and inspirational story you've got to hear)...and much more. It's a very interesting chat with Ed, as it's all based on his own hand-on experiences on Emergency Management, rather than about theoretical aspects of Emergency Management. Lots of insights you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

I'm joined once again by renown Crisis Management expert Regina Phelps, as we talk about her recently published article Leadership in Times of Crisis. During our back-and-forth discussion, we touch on: 1. Situational Awareness, 2. Thinking of sustained technical outages (What do I do? How to deal with data loss? How to validate when tech becomes available?) 3. Improvise, 4. Be creative and adaptable, 5. Act decisively, 6. Tests and exercises, 7. Take action, 8. Communications (Who writes? Who edits? Who approves?) 9. Re-evaluate...and more. Another insightful discussion with Regina who shares some great thoughts about Crisis Management, and I even share quite a few of my own experiences in this one. Don't miss what Regina has to share. Enjoy!

Join me February 22/24 at 1pm EST, as I once again talk to experienced Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery professional, Ray Holloman. Today we talk about 2 topics. In Segment 1 we talk about 'Are your plans and exercises thinking about equity and inclusion?' where we touch on: 1. Consideration for people with disabilities in tests and exercises, 2. Having those tough conversations, 3. Increasing morale and productivity - making people feel they belong, 4. Addressing fear, 5. Universal Design, 6. Change the thinking, 7. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in exercise plans...and more. In Segment 2 we touch on the topic 'In Resilience, where does disaster recovery and high availability fit?' and talk about: 1. The difference between disaster recovery and high availability, 2. Critical conversations with various parties, 3. New approaches and ideas for DR and HA testing, 4. Resilience in DR and HA, 5. Difficult discussions about RTOs, 6. Selling 'resilience' to leadership, 7. Priorities - making sure you can recover first...and much more. It's another great conversation with Ray, who share many helpful insights DR, HA, BCM, and resilience professionals can use in their daily roles. You don't want to miss what Ray has to share. Enjoy!

Join me as I speak with a founding partner of the Resilience Think Tank and longtime resilience expert, Lisa Jones. For Operational Resilience (OpR) to truly flourish at any organizational leadership must give Operational Resilience a seat - and voice - at the c-suite table. During my chat with Lisa, we touch on: 1. Defining Operational Resilience (It should mean something to your own organization), 2. Understand your business, 3. Continuous monitoring and incremental changes, 4. Standards and guidelines, 5. Looking for the simple solutions, 6. Proactive vs reactive, 7. A change in thinking, 8. Socializing Operational Resilience, 9. Organizational culture and leadership, 10. Getting out of the 'silo thinking', 11. Getting to know the Enterprise Risk Group...and much more. Lisa provides some great insights on how to get that Operational Resilience voice to be heard and seen at the c-suite table; valuable information you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

I'm joined by long-time leadership and business resilience specialist, Cary Jasgur. We talk about what key areas organizations should be focusing with regards to their resilience programs. During our chat we touch on: 1. The 'new normal’ or the a 'different normal'? 2. Risk assessments...the right one, 3. Sharing with leadership, 4. The 'doom and gloom' guy (and changing that viewpoint), 5. BU engagement, 6. Understanding the business, 7, Supply chains, 8. Polycrisis & simultaneous disruptions, 9. Exercises & testing, 10. Training & awareness, 11. Balancing your program, 12. Relationship building, 13. Advice for those in resilience departments of 1 or 2 people, 14. Knowing when you're on the right track...and more. Cary shares some great first-hand experience and insights in how organizations can build stronger resilience programs. Don't miss what Cary has to share. Enjoy!

I'm joined by longtime experienced Business Continuity, Analyst, Emergency Management, and IT professional, Carol Paasch. We talk about some of the key components that help create a successful Resilience Program. During our chat we touch on: 1. Executive sponsorship, 2. Steering Committees, 3. Role & Responsibilities...that work!, 4. Stopping the 'scenario planning', 5. Business Impact Assessments (for BU and IT), 6. The Risk Assessment, 7. Getting to know the Risk team, 8, Understanding Vendor Management, 9. System of Truth, 10. Testing & Exercising, 11. The thud factor, 12. Understanding what's in it for them, 13. Software is a tool, not the answer...and much more. Carol's extensive hand's on experience is something you don't want to miss if you want to make you resilience program a success. It's logical and ground-roots common sense insight you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with longtime crisis management and resilience expert, Regina Phelps. We take a look at the 2024 World Economic Forum Risk Report and its findings - and what it means for crisis, risk, resilience, and continuity professionals (as well as our organizations). We talk about: 1. Polycrisis, 2. The Global Risk Network, 3. Pessimism (and its growth), 4. The current risk landscape, 5. Extreme Weather, 6. AI generated dis/misinformation, 7. Societal and political polarization, 8. Cost-of-living implications, 9. Cyber attacks, 10. The interconnectedness of risks, 11. The potential impacts of the large number of elections in 2024...and more. Don't miss this episode, as Regina really sheds light on topics we need to think of that could have impact on ourselves, our organizations, and our communities. Enjoy!

Long-time Information Security professional, Justin Merhoff, discusses accessibility issues in cyber and resilience plans, covering topics like defining accessibility, biases, risks to the organization, solutions, and changing the culture. He emphasizes the need for leadership, crucial conversations, and user involvement in addressing these challenges.