In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser, along with Consultant Bray Wheeler, discuss the need to “over-respond”, in a manner of speaking, but not overreacting – when it comes to establishing your crisis management framework and your own importance as a leader within your organization.

 

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Episode Transcript

Bryan Strawser: Welcome to the Managing Uncertainty podcast. This is Bryan Strawser, Principal and Chief Executive here at Bryghtpath.

Bray Wheeler: This is Barry Wheeler consultant here at Bryghtpath.

Bryan Strawser: You know, I like to think that everybody belongs to a couple of different tribes in their lives. And I don’t mean like real tribes but like the tribe of career or community that you’ve joined. And I’ve got the whole crisis management and business continuity communities and global security. And I’m Catholic, so I’ve got my Catholic tribe kind of thing. But I’ve-

Bray Wheeler: Red Sox Nation.

Bryan Strawser: Red Sox Nation, absolutely. And the Patriots and the Bruins. The Celtics. But you know, one of my tribes is a… I was never a firefighter, but I worked in law enforcement. So I kind of think of that as a tribe. And I’m an EMT, and I wasn’t EMT in the past and I am again now. And I think of that as my tribe. And when we were thinking about this podcast today, What we were going to talk about, over-responding but not overreacting, I was reminded of what very little I know about the fire service. And that is when there’s a fire of some type, there’s a set response.

Bryan Strawser: So a residential fire in Roseville, Minnesota is going to result in two engine companies, a ladder company and a BLS unit and a chief, the battalion chief, going to that. And what that first engine in, the officer on that engine or the chief, if they get there before the apparatus, which is unlikely, the first thing they do is a size up where they walk around the incident. They take a look at it and they’re making an instantaneous decision on calling for more resources, or I have what I need to handle this.

Bryan Strawser: And that call for resources is usually a little ahead of the actual need. They look at it and they’re like, well, I’ve got like two houses nearby. I’m going to have to mitigate against those homes catching on fire. And I know that has a term in the fire service. I don’t remember what it is. But they’re going to try to protect these two houses and he’s going to need another two engine companies to do that. They’re going to make that decision. So theyR