Preparing for the Unexpected

Business Continuity is often seen as an expense, but doing it right can help an organization with profitability. I talk with long-time BCM industry certified professional Harsha Sastry. Harsha takes us through many different considerations that sometimes get overlooked or ill-perceived, but in actuality, can help an organization reap continuous profits. We talk about: 1. Re-discovery, 2. Re-qualifying speed (e.g., RTOs, RPOs etc.), 3. The CMDB (It's now what you think, it's actually the Configuration Maturity Delta Bridge), 4. Responsiveness, 5. Exercising & Testing, 6. Muscle memory, 7. Strategic goals, vision, mission, and the 'Epicenter' (you have to listen in to know what that means), 8. Agility - Shifting Right to Left, 9. Re-calibrating and Sharpening activities, 10. and much more. It's obvious Harsha is well-versed on BCM and quite passionate about the topic. Don't miss his invaluable insights. Enjoy!

It's time once again for my regularly scheduled chat with globally recognized resilience and business continuity management expert, Regina Phelps. For this episode we talk about Shifting Baselines, defined as failure to notice change over time. We also touch on ROI vs VOI, which means how resilience, BCM, and DR professionals showing value, rather than trying to 'guess' at ROI dollars. It's a great conversation with Regina, and there is allot here to capture and take back to your own organizations to ensure your programs display value - and increase your own value. Don't miss this episode! Enjoy!

Sometimes, leadership during a crisis can be lacking and ineffective. I talk with Crisis Management expert and author of Code Black: 50 Lessons in Crisis Management for Effective Leadership, Glenn C Schoen. We touch on such topics as: 1. The meaning of Code Black, 2. Decision Making Model during a crisis, 3. The 6 steps in defining a crisis, 4. Defining, addressing, and prioritizing risks (even before a crisis is declared), 5. The 7 characteristics of a crisis, 6. Escalation from a small incident to Crisis Management Team involvement, 7. Being wary of 'default management' thinking, 8. Defining a designated BIAS buster, 9. The C-Suite Gap (training, Crisis Mgmt. knowledge...), 10. Understanding that in a disaster you are not the only one suffering. It is a great chat with Glenn, and he touches on subjects not usually written about with regards to Crisis Management and Leadership. Do not miss what Glenn has to say. Enjoy!

Business Continuity Management (BCM) isn't just about a 'plan' - there's so much more to consider, and many other concepts that into play to create a successful BCM program. I speak with well-known and respected BCM thought leader Vito Mangialardi, about some of the many concepts associated with a BCM program. We talk about: 1. Policy, 2. Maturity Model (What's a mature program looks like?), 3. Auditing BCM Programs, 4. Key Performance Indicators (KPI), 5. Virtual Exercises vs Realtime Exercises, 6. Climate Change and BCM, 7. Industry Certifications & Standards, 8. BCM professionals having "The Right Stuff", and 9. Personal Preparedness, It's a lively and informative chat with Vito, you don't want to miss. Enjoy!

The global pandemic has put allot of stress on just about everyone, and it's important we know how to deal with the prolonged stress and burnout it has - and is - creating. I speak with the author of 'Burnout Proof: How to Establish Boundaries to Avoid the Negativity of Stress' and founder & Chief Burnout Officer of the Breakfast Leadership Network, Michael Levitt. We talk about: 1. Defining burnout, 2. Recognizing signs of burnout, 3. Reasons people experience burnout, 4. Michael shares his own story and experiences with burnout, 5. Establishing boundaries and communicating boundaries, 6. How to get out of burnout, and 7. How to help someone you know with burnout. In sharing his personal story, Michael brings a real-life way of dealing with the challenges of burnout, and how we can each deal with it - for ourselves and others. You don't want to miss what he has to say. Enjoy!

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!

It's time again to get caught up once again with Regina Phelps. In our August 2022 update we talk about: 1. COVID (US, Canada, and the world...and new variants), 2. Monkey Pox (What we need to know and some of the misconception), 3. Staff shortages in the health care and teaching professions (why and what impact this is having), 4. Polio (What is it? How does it spread? How to prevent it, and vaccinations and vaccines). As always, another great chat with Regina you don't want to miss. Some of the information could save a loved ones life...or your own.

Embedding Business Continuity and Resilience into an organization can seem a daunting task. I I talk with BC and Resilience specialist Gary Stevenson about how we can do this and what we should consider. We discuss: 1. Define the term embedding, 2. The importance of awareness and the different levels of awareness required, 3. Steven's personal experiences with embedding BC in his organization (the good and the bad), 4. Recommendations for getting an embedding initiative started, 5. How to be flexible with your approach to embedding BC, and 6. The challenges, and how to overcome them. A great conversation with Gary, who helps us better understand how to embed BC into our organizations for success. Enjoy!

The use of Knowledge Management (KM) within the Business Continuity industry can help organizations with their goal of becoming more resilience. I talk with Knowledge Management (KM) specialist, Vanessa Thurlwell, who will help us understand what Knowledge Management is and the considerations for implementing a successful KM program. We talk about: 1. Principles of resilience (A Resilient Organization, Indicators of Resilience), 2. An overview of Knowledge Management (Explicit Knowledge vs Tacit Knowledge, Knowledge Hierarchy, KM Program components (People, Processes, Tech, Structures, Culture), 3. Steps to Implementation, 4. Linking Knowledge Management principles with Business Continuity Management (Identify, Assess, Develop, Track), 5. The importance of organizational learning, and 6. Success factors for true resilience. Knowledge Management isn't a well-understood discipline, but Vanessa does a great job of displaying how much it can help our organizations when trying to become more resilient. Don't miss it!

There is allot of focus on our physical Supply Chains, but what about digital supply chains? I talk with long time lead auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and other standards, Willy Fabritius. Willy takes a different view of Supply Chain Management and talks about the digital aspects, rather than the traditionally focus of physical products and their supply chains. It's a new perspective that hasn't been fully talked about until now. Will talks about: 1. Defining digital supply chains, 2. Digital supply chain issues, 3. Products and Services obtained through a digital manner, 4. Impacts of digital changes to products already in use, 5. Key program components and possible solutions, 6. Risk Assessments / Analysis, 7. Regulatory requirements, 8. User awareness (People aren't as aware as you might think.), 9. Incident management and learning from them, 10. Management Systems, 11. Independent reviews and assessments (Governance)...and more. It's a very informative talk with a focus many aren't considering in Supply Chain Management; the digital aspects. Don't miss this! Enjoy!