Preparing for the Unexpected

I talk with award-winning IT, Continuity, Resilience, Risk and Security professional and noted resilience expert, Modebola Olowu.

Modebola talks about personal resilience and how we can cultivate a practice the will work effectively at home and in the workplace.

We touch on subjects such as:

1. What is resilience and the difference between the workplace and home,

2. Characteristics of personal resilience?

3. The art of Kintsugi? (This is a great analogy for resilience and I urge everyone to go find your gold!!),

4. Cultivating Resilience,

5. The Me Strategy,

6. The Proactive Strategy,

7. The Community Strategy,

8. Crises and their Opportunities, and

9. Ways to identify opportunities in crisis (e.g., change your perspective, find the 'loophole' etc.).

It's clear that Modebola is quite passionate about personal resilience, and it comes across during our discussion.

With allot of resilience talk focusing on technology, processes, and systems, Modebola teaches us how to take a step back and look at ourselves...our gold. Enjoy!

Some might believe that banking and Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) would be the same around the globe. Though parts of that might be true, other aspects, perspectives, and methodologies aren't always the same. I'm joined by award winning BCM expert Khaled Altawily, who talks about BCM in the banking sector of Saudi Arabia. During the episode, we talk about: 1. Risk tools in Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS), 2. Risk scales and terminology, 3. Risk and risk Controls, 4. Internal and external partners, 5. The overlap between BCM and various control functions, 6. The maturity of BCMS in the Saudi Arabian banking sector, 7. The challenges with BCM post-COVID19 (Thought on the other side of the world, you'll find that many of the challenges sound familiar.)...and more. Khaled does a great job of shining the light on the banking sector in Saudi Arabia, and how it has implemented a successful BCM methodology, especially when he talks about the maturity levels set for the sector. Don't miss Khaled's insights. Enjoy!

The workspace is changing, and the pandemic put that change into 'hear gear'. I talk with recognized expert in the area of Group and Team Coaching, and author or Reconnecting Workspaces, Jennifer J. Britton. We talk about: 1. The differing roles of a leader and team member, 2. Groups vs teams, 3. Company culture and how it influences teams etc. (you'll notice I get really into this topic), 4. The TRIAD of Trust, Safety, and Connection, and how it impacts the workspace, 5. Leadership, 6. Conflict and its causes (Yes, it still happens in the virtual world), 7. How to address conflict. Jennifer provides some insights on a very timely and current subject, which is impacted people around the globe. With so many people working remotely it's necessary for us to reconnect our workspaces, and Jennifer does a great job of helping to understand some of the ways we can do this right...and what might be causing us to look at it incorrectly. Enjoy!

To improve and move forward, we have to learn from our mistakes. All too often, we don't learn from the lessons as they present themselves. I speak with internationally recognized Crisis Management, Emergency Management, and Busine Continuity expert, Christine Miller about Learning Management. Chris offers allot of helpful information including: 1. How to plan for a lesson learned workshop/meeting, 2. Participants (it's more than you might think), 3. Follow-up, 4. Strong – and courageous – leadership, 5. What the acronym O.I.L.L. means and how it helps Lessons Learned, 6. Successes with O.I.L.L. in Eswatini, 7. Tips for starting a Lessons Learned initiative, 8. Who benefits from OILL and Lessons Learned in Emergency Management. Chris shares allot of information, including allot of her own personal work experiences. Many talk about Lessons Learned, but Chris goes a little bit deeper into the subject than most. Enjoy!

Many believe the impacts of COVID are done - they are over it. But, we've yet to see everything that COVID has touched and impacted. Every leader, manager, and professional needs to know what is on the horizon, and understand how it may impact their organization - or perhaps understand why their organization is still being impacted by COVID. We touch on: 1. The current state of COVID (US & CAN) and the variant XBB.1.5 2. 5 individual societal shift (some are a bit scary), 3. Global societal disruptions, 4. Health impacts yet to be realized, 5. Mental Health, 6. Long COVID, 7. Healthcare Providers & Systems, 8. Lost education & earning potential, 9. Learning poverty (This is a big one!). Once again, Regina brings forward some keys items professional of all stripes are going to have to deal with in the coming weeks, months, and years - if not already being impacted by them. Don't miss these great insights. Enjoy!

Exercising (and testing) our disaster, crisis, and business continuity plans, is important if we want our organization's and our colleagues to respond effectively and efficiently to crisis and disaster situations. I talk with globally recognized crisis management and business continuity specialist, Robert Burton. Rob will walk us through his proven methodology of how to plan and execute effective tests and exercises. We touch on: 1. Pre-exercise planning, 2. Exercise and scenario design, 3. Final logistics, 4. Exercise delivery and evaluation, 5. Post exercise activities (AAR and summary video), 6. A few stories (how exercises can go wrong, a good way to end an exercise and war brings home the seriousness of not preparing). It's a great chat and a great way to help bring your exercises to a new level. Enjoy!

What does Lewis & Clarke, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Jacques Cartier and many other explorers had in common? They are all great examples of key management and leadership concepts that many people and organizations struggle with today. I speak with Project Management and Business Continuity expert, Ralph L. Kliem about his new book 'Management Lessons from the Great Explorers', as we touch on: 1. Strong sponsors, 2. Risk Management, 3. Data and information, 4. Adaptation, 5. Stakeholder Management, and 6. The willingness to say no. It's a fascinating new way of looking at some of today's key issues - by looking at the past. If we don't learn from those that came before, we won't be able to manage today. It's a great chat you won't want to miss. Enjoy!

Building resilient small businesses is an often overlooked segment of the economy, especially considering small businesses make up to 97% of businesses around the globe. I speak with the founder of Resilient Ready Renae Hanvin who talk about small businesses and resilience. Renae talks about: 1. Defining small businesses, 2. Defining resiliency vs resilient, 3. Building business networks, 4. Communities and the impacts of small business, 5. Thinking difference vs doing differently, 6. Kangaroo Island and the response 7. Lessons Learned and being implemented by businesses in Lismore, Australia that suffered from another major flood in early 2022, 8. How businesses can work together (and with the community), 9. The telling signs of a good business eco-system...and so much more. Renae offers some great insights on small business you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

The COVID pandemic and daily life in general, has put a stress on everyone, regardless of their job title. CEOs and other leaders are no exception. I speak with the author of 'The Broken CEO: How to be the Leader You Always Wanted to Be', Chris Pearse. During our chat, Chris touches on: 1. Defines what a leader is...and isn't, 2. The difference between stress and strain, 3. How meditation helps everyone (even if only for 5min a day), 4. Rest - and what rest really means (It's more than what you might think), 5. What's wrong with the phrase 'work-life balance', 6. How can a leader can increase their Influence (no matter where you are in your organization), 7. Coaching (not telling), 8. CEOs supporting employees (inverting the hierarchal pyramid), and 9. Upside down Leadership. A great chat with allot of insights from Chris. You don't need to be a CEO to adapt allot of what Chris has to say. Listen in and let your inner leader loose. Enjoy!

Risks! Everyday we face risks and need to be able to manage them. Organizations need to be able to manage their internal risks and their external risks. I speak with noted risk expert Tony Thornton about how organizations can do just that; manage their risks.

We touch on:

a) Challenges with our current 'business jargon'

b) IPEC risks (What are they, and what can be done about them?)

c) How to manage IPEC risks using the acronym 'ABCDE'

d) Discuss the differences between 'likelihood' and 'probability'

e) Reporting metrics

Tony is a lively speaker and obviously quite passionate about risk, and you don't want to miss his talk on IPEC Risks. Enjoy!