Preparing for the Unexpected

Join me as I talk with recognized Business Continuity & Resilience industry thought leader, Shane Mathew. We talk about the nuances of decision-making during a crisis, but also how we prepare our Crisis Team members and decision-makers before a crisis occurs.   1. The importance of good decision-making,   2. How the Chernobyl disaster triggered the conversation of decision-making,   3. Fear and decisions,   4. The 'Netflix Dilemma' (you gotta hear this),   5. Phases of Decision Making,   6. Social Media impacts to decision-making,   7. Knowing stakeholders,   8. Know your values,   9. How stress impacts decisions,   10. How to make better decisions,  11. The 'Point Guard',   12. Frameworks,   13. Decision-making tools,   14. Practice!...and much more.  Shane takes a step back from not just talking about decision-making during a crisis, but how we can prepare ourselves to make decisions before a crisis ever occurs. That's something that doesn't get talked about enough. Share shares some great insights you don't want to miss. Enjoy!    Shane Mathew: I coach teams charged with helping businesses to prepare to continue on in crisis or business disruption by developing a best-practices-aligned resilience program.  In my extensive career, I've started and matured multiple programs that were able to successfully reduce the impacts of crises. My goal is to lower the cost and complexity of programs through developing a strategic plan and stakeholder engagement that ultimately supports business objectives. I'm also very media friendly, and try to find ways to weave marketing and brand value best practices into my efforts. Ask me how and I will be glad to help! Specialties: Sales, Marketing, Project Management, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, Crisis Management, Crisis Communications, Environmental Health & Safety, Mass Notification Systems, Program Management, Leadership, Data Breach Response Planning, Vendor Risk Management

Join me as I talk with the founder and principal of Raymond-Cox Consulting, Fiona Raymond-Cox, as we talk about Cyber table top exercises. We touch on: 1. The evolution of tabletop exercises and how things have changed over the years (and why!), 2. Tabletop exercising with the Crisis Management Team (CMT) and why it's important, 3. Functional exercises and how they take tabletops to the next level...and more! Don't miss the insights Fiona has to share, as it will certainly help your Operational Resilience / Business Continuity programs. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with Trauma Informed Conflict Management Consultant, Treena Reilkoff. We have a very insightful discussion on three key areas that are impacting people and workplaces: 1. School violence, 2. Work related suicide (and an actual case from Australia where a business was found at fault for contributing to a suicide), 3. Psychological Health & Safety Environments (which ties everything together). Treena share some really good advice and guidance for people - both at the general employee level and at the management/leadership level - on what to look for an how to prevent incidents from occurring. It's an episode you don't want to miss if you want safer workplaces for all. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with Business Continuity specialist Gayle Anders and Technical Continuity specialist TJ Mead - both of Netflix. As 'departments-of-one' they've been able to transform their organization's thinking on Business Continuity and Technical Continuity and share many lessons on how they did it, and how they're keeping things moving forward. During our chat we touch on: 1. Terminology (a small change makes a big difference), 2. Challenges, 3. Cultural components, 4. Plan Ownership 5. Changing perspectives and making it personal, 6. Building relationships, 7. Successful programs (this might not be what you're used to), 8. Becoming a 'knowledge hub', 9. Sharing mistakes and lessons learned, 10. Understanding and keeping leadership support, 11. Staying current...and more! Gayle and TJ share some great insights on how they've been able to raise the bar with their programs and provide some valuable advice for industry professionals wanting to raise the bar in their own organizations. Don't miss what Gayle and TJ have to share. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with respected globally recognized operational risk, business continuity, and risk expert, and chair of the BCI's Women in Resilience Interest Group, Ratna Pawan. During our discussion we touch on two topics: Operational Resilience and Women in Resilience. 1. Operational Resilience (OpR) a. Defining operational resilience, b. OpR is BCM done well (neither of us like this comment), c. Risk awareness, d. OpR ownership, e. Understanding the inter-relationships, f. BCM as an OpR professional, g. Why other areas need to pay attention to OpR...and more! 2. Women in Resilience (WiR) a. What WiR? b. WiR initiatives, c. The challenges being faced, d. Allies and equality, e. Contacting and being part of the WiR interest group...and more! Ratna share some great insights into Operational Resilience and talks candidly about the BCI's Women in Resilience group - the successes and the challenges. Don't miss what Ratna has to share. Enjoy!

Join me, Thursday, October 31/24 on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel, as I discuss Cyber Response Issues with Regina Phelps. During our back-and-forth chat we touch on subjects such as: 1. Assumptions, 2. Bringing everyone together (and we do mean everyone!), 3. Identifying the top issues in Cyber, 4. Checklists, 5. Uncomfortable conversations, 6. Determining a leaders, 7. Leadership, Decisiveness, and respected (you must listen to know what these refer to), 8. Consistency, 9. Workshops (aka testing/exercising), 10. Insurance (it’s more than you think), 11. 3rd Party Vendors…and much more! Regina shares a wealth of knowledge once again and you don’t want to miss out on the insights, as you never know when your organization will be faced with a cyber event. Enjoy!

It's part 2 of my talk with resilience specialist, Jason Hoss, as we continue out discussion on personal resilience and how it helps establish strong organizational and operational resilience within our businesses. We use our own stories of resilience to help understand how the personal side of resilience will help build and influence Organizational and Operational Resilience. You don't want to miss these stories - both personal and professional. Perhaps they'll help you on your organization's path of resilience. Enjoy!

To help establish strong organizational and operational information within our businesses, one first must start with personal resilience; the foundation upon which you can build and influence Organizational and Operational Resilience. I speak with resilience specialist and friend, Jason Hoss, as we share our own stories - the good, the bad, and the ugly - about our own journeys of resilience. You don't want to miss these stories - both personal and professional. Perhaps they'll help you on your organization's path of resilience. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with globally recognized Crisis, Conflict, and Emergency Management (CCEM) expert, Kyle King, as we talk about a couple of important subjects. In segment 1 we talk about The Role of Business Continuity in International Security. 1. BCM and economic stability. 2. Geopolitical risks, 3. International security and BCM, 4. Public and Private partnerships, 5. Operational continuity, 6. The inward / outward view of Business Continuity, 7. Regulations...and much more! For the second segment we talk about Emergency Management or Crisis Management: Is it Time to Evolve? 1. More complexity in crisis, 2. Redefining incidents (small events growing to large-scale events), 3. Dealing with past Emergency Mgmt. and Crisis Mgmt. doctrine, 4. Catastrophes, 5. Communications, 6. Bringing BCM, Emergency Mgmt. and Crisis Mgmt. together, 7. Clarifying authorities (vs responsibilities), 8. A change in mindset...and much more! Kyle shares some great insights about BCM involvement in International Security and how the ERM and CM professions need - and must - evolve to address our changing times. Don't miss what Kyle has to share. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with experienced Business Continuity Management (BCM), Incident Management, and Emergency Response specialist, Jennifer Park, as we discuss why organizations and leadership downplay the importance of BCM along with what it can offer organizations. During our discussion we touch on: 1. Defining BCM and resilience (Jennifer's view), 2. Viewing BCM as a short-term initiative, 3. 'Chicken little' syndrome, 4. Periodic rebuilding of programs, 5. Create and show value, 6. AI has the answers, 7. RTO misunderstandings, 8. Aligning BCM with IT, 9. Not understanding impacts and dependencies (it's not just the number of people using an application!), 10. Decisions, 11. Prioritization and reprioritization, 12. Tips to improve BCM visibility...and much more! Jennifer share some great insights on why organization leadership may not fully understand the complexity and benefits of a good BCM program, while also offer suggestions on how to improve our own if we aren't getting the traction we want. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with the Security Director for the Americas at World Travel Protection, Frank Harrison, as we talk about 'Travel Risk Management'. With global 'hot spots' cropping up in what seems to be on a daily basis, understanding the risks is vital for individuals and organizations. During our talk we touch on: 1. Defining Travel Risk Management, 2. 'Duty of care', 3. Fit for Location (this is quite interesting that people should pay attention to), 4. Communication when traveling, 5. Travel risk assessments, 6. Teams, 7. Monitoring of global situations, 8. The 'Niger' incident (Frank and team were saviors here), 9. Crisis Management, 10. Understanding your risk environment, 11. Training...and much, much more! Frank shares some great insights on travel risk management and shares quite a few experiences from his long career. In today's global environment where situations seem to change on a daily basis, you don't want to miss what Frank has to say about traveling (either for leisure or business). Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with resilience industry thought leader, Jason Hoss. We talk about learning from the past to empower future resilience. During our discussion we touch on: 1. Legal advice, 2. Don't waste an adverse situation (it's an opportunity!!), 3. No process is perfect, 4. Learning from missteps, 5. Training & exercising (a great learning experience), 6. Grow through adversity, 7. Test plans and processes - exercise people...and more! Jason and I share our thoughts and ideas on lessons learned to help build a more resilient future. Remember, if nothing changes you didn't learn anything...you just observed it. Enjoy! NOTE: This was another of our contributions to the 2024 BCI Business Continuity & Resilience Awareness Week!

Join me as I talk with resilience industry thought leader Jason Hoss, as we talk about employee engagement. During out discussion we touch upon: 1. The culture of an organization, 2. BIAs and BCPs, 3. People focus and involvement, 4. Process vs people resilience, 5. Testing and exercising, 6. 'Chaos Monkey', 7. Building confidence...and more! Jason and I share our thoughts and ideas tor building, maintaining, and increasing employee engagement to help establish resilience. Enjoy! NOTE: This was one of our contributions to the 2024 BCI Business Continuity & Resilience Awareness Week.

I'm joined by resilience industry thought leader, Jason Hoss, as we talk about Community Resilience. During our chat we touch on: 1. Micro Approach: individual, households, fire plans, social networks, local businesses, one's influence, insurance, self-risk assessments, and more, 2. Macro Approach: cities/towns, engaging stakeholders, inclusive plans, assumptions, and more. Jason and I share many thoughts on community resilience you don't want to miss. NOTE: This was one of our contributions to the 2024 BCI Business Continuity & Resilience Awareness Week.

Join me as I with with leading resilience and risk expert, Terry Lee. During today's discussion we touch on 3 key important topics: Operational Resilience, Vendor Risk Management, and Enterprise Risk Management. 1. Operational Risk ( Defining OpR, Leadership confidence, Risk as an opportunity, Who 'owns' OpR, Where OpR resides in an organization...and more!) 2. Vendor Risk Mgmt. (The difference between supply chain mgmt. and vendor risk mgmt., Regulatory standards, Vendor assessments, NDAs and obtaining necessary information, Testing with vendors...and more!) 3. Enterprise Risk Mgmt. (BCM and ERM, Changing Cultures, risk registry, Risk in motion, Model risks...and more!) Terry shares a wealth of great information and insights that all business leaders and contingency/resilience professionals can benefit from. Don't miss what Terry has to share. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with renown Crisis Management, Business Continuity, and Resilience expert, Regina Phelps. We talk about the recent Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage that has - and continues to - cripple many organizations and institutions. During our chat we talk about: 1. The outage, 2. Timelines, 3. Who is to blame? 4. The impacts, 5. When is enough, enough? 6. Testing and complacency, 7. What do you do when you have nothing? 8. What's in the Business Continuity Plan? 9. Asking hard questions, 10. How do you deal with data loss? 11. Verifying data integrity...and more. Regina shares what we know about the CrowdStrike outage and some great questions we need to ask ourselves when we find our organizations impacted by such events. You don't want to miss Regina's insights. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with experienced Operational Resilience and Business Continuity professional, Yusuf Ukaye, as we talk on the topic of Starting a BCM Program from Scratch. During our discussion we talk about: 1. Asking the right questions (What are we protecting? and more), 2. Impacts of not doing what you do, 3. Feeling about risk, 4. Good governance, 5. RACI, 6. It's NOT a project, 7. Everyday BC usage, 8. Building roadmaps, 9. Articulating needs, 10. Standards and guidelines, 11. Stakeholders, 12. Soft Skills, 13. Escalate and communicate w/ leaders, 14. Looking for support, 15. Listen more, 16. Be aware of the human element, 17. Validating you're on the right track, 18. Understanding assumptions and dependencies, 19. Communications...and more! Yusuf provides lots of great insights for those new to the field to help them get started, but also some insights to those that might be wondering why their program isn't as effective as it could be. Don't miss what Yusuf has to share. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with Entrepreneur, Leader, Coach, Consultant, and Practitioner and author of 'The Anti-Fragility Edge', Si Alhir (Sinan Si Alhir). We talk about agility, resilience, and anti-fragility, and how understanding these concepts - and how they relate to each other - will help transform you and your teams. During our chat we touch on: 1. Defining Agility, Resilience, and Anti-Fragility, 2. The 'sacred triad', 3. Controlling reality and navigating events, 4. Complexity muscle, 5. Stress, 6. 4 levels of thought, 7. Order and dis-order, 8. The challenge of fear, 9. External influences, 10. The human aspects of agility, resilience, and anti-fragility, 11. The 9 C's (you really have to hear this), 12. Engagement and impact, 13. Communications and helping people, 14. Ecosystems (a world view), 15. Risk and risk navigators, 16. Working with teams...and much more! Don't miss the incredible insights with Si Alhir - it will definitely help you, your team, and your business. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with noted resiliency, trauma informed professional and leadership expert, Treena Reilkoff. We discuss how to turn trauma into a resilient asset for to better yourself in you work life and home life...and potentially influence others. During our chat we touch on: 1. Defining Resilience (this is a bit different than what you might be used to), 2. Growth through risk taking, 3. Developing situational awareness, 4. Defining trauma / critical incidents, 5. Treena shares a personal story and how it changed her life, 6. Traits and self-reflections, 7. SOS to SRSR (you've got to listen to find out what this means...and it's good!), 8. Life skills and perceptiveness, 9. 'The Rocking Chair' test (something we'll all do at some point...), 10. Learning from trauma, 11. Barriers, obstacles, and challenges, 12. Timing, 13. Things we can do to change/improve ourselves, 14. Vulnerability (and another great personal story from Treena you have to hear), 15. Narrative therapy, 16. Getting started...and more! Treena really provides some new insights on resilience that will help all of us in our personal and professional lives. Don't miss what Treena has to say. Enjoy!

Join me as I talk with co-founder of Factal and co-host of 'Global Security Briefing', Cory Bergman. We take a look at the recently published Risk Intelligence Forecast 2024 report and talk about some of the key items the report identifies that all organizations needs to be aware of. During our chat we discuss: 1. How the report came about, 2. The biggest surprises and making sense of the 'noise', 3. Artificial Intelligence (AI), 4. Media manipulation (deep fakes), 5. Fracturing of social media (more tools - more problems), 6, Copyright laws and issues, 7. Geopolitics and the ever changing variables, 8. The election super cycle (and the potential impacts around the globe), 9. The burnout epidemic includes everyone, 10. Find the information you trust...and more! Cory share lots of insights from his vast experience in risk intelligence, and what he shares should be on the radars of all organizations. Don't this these great insights. Enjoy!