Episode 166: The Impact of ESG on Business Continuity ESG – which stands for environmental, social, and governance investing – is a way for investors to evaluate risk and social responsibility before investing in companies. In this episode, we’ll be sharing some specifics of ESG, how it can affect your organization’s business continuity practices and decisions, and why you might consider becoming an ESG-compliant organization. Source: Global Risk Management Institute: What Is ESG? Some key takeaways from this episode include: ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. ESG investor ..read more

Episode 164: Should Brands Take a Political Stance? In 2024, we are entering election season, which in the U.S. has become more and more divisive over the last several years. In this episode, we are going to dig into whether businesses or brands should take political stances on divisive issues, and how you can choose to navigate this going into 2024. Some key takeaways from this episode include: There are two ways to approach conversations about politics at work. One, if a conversation is not going to be productive, then maybe the workplace isn’t the best place to have it. And two, is it go ..read more

Episode 163: The Joy of Metrics + Training the Next Generation of Professionals Metrics are a huge factor in business continuity and allow us to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our strategies. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Bernard Jones, professor of homeland security and emergency management at St. John’s University. Throughout his career, he’s worked in several industries, including tech and data, healthcare, security, and higher education. Some key takeaways from this episode include: It’s really important to keep track of the key metrics within your organization, but m ..read more

Episode 162: Artificial Intelligence in Business Continuity | Use Cases, Risks, and Our Favorite AI Tools At the recent DRJ conference in Phoenix, the topic everyone wanted to talk about was AI (artificial intelligence). As tools like ChatGPT become more mainstream, the conversation is shifting to how we can actually use these tools in our industry. In this episode, we’re sharing some of the ways we’re using AI in our business, and how you can better leverage it as a tool for your own business. AI Tools: ChatGPT Captions.ai Claude.ai Prompt to train the AI chat on your business Some ..read more

Episode 161: Supply Chain Resilience in the Wine & Spirits Industry Supply chains continue to be a trending topic, and in this episode, we’re digging into managing and troubleshooting supply chains for the wine and spirits industry. We’re joined by John Liuzzi, the national director for business continuity for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, who is running a “dream team” of business continuity professionals in his industry to share his insights, plus how business continuity challenges differ in the public vs. private sectors. Some key takeaways from this episode include: Some of t ..read more

Episode 160: Leadership Risks You Need to Prepare For Leadership is a major factor in how smoothly your emergency management and business continuity plans are created and implemented, so in this episode, we are sharing some of the top leadership risks to prepare for in order to have a stronger team. The article Vanessa references for this episode is from Forbes on “Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Rapidly Changing World.” Some key takeaways from this episode include: Your ability to manage and regulate your own emotions during a crisis is crucial. According to Forbes, “EQ is so effecti ..read more

Episode 159: Wildfire Preparedness and Emergency Management While the top disaster threat in California is still earthquakes, wildfires have gotten a lot of attention over the last few years. We’re seeing wildfires affect more of North America recently, so in this episode, Leslie Luke, the deputy director of the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office at the Office of Emergency Management, is here to share his expertise. Leslie covers the training and exercise objectives, communication skills, and community education that are all needed to prepare for and fight wildfires. Some key takeaways ..read more

Episode 158: How Prepared Is Your Business? | 5 Metrics & KPIs You Should Be Tracking for Business Resilience We’ve spent years helping businesses rethink how to measure the effectiveness of their resiliency program. In fact, we have a 200 question input form that examines just this. While this podcast episode is not long enough to share all 200 questions, we’d like to offer five metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) you can use to help you assess your business resilience. Some key takeaways from this episode include: What gets funded gets managed. When you can show how certain r ..read more

If your team is running exercises where everyone is just going through the motions, you’re missing some key blind spots in your processes. In this replay episode, Rick Christ, a senior consultant at Crisis Prevention and Response, Inc. and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner, lays out his seven deadly sins of crisis management exercises. From focusing on shiny objects to exercising too big, Rick covers the mistakes you might be making and how to avoid each one moving forward. Resources mentioned: “The 7 Deadly Sins of Emergency Management,” presentation by former FEMA Administrator Craig Fug ..read more

In light of the Supreme Court recently ruling against affirmative action, in this episode we’re sharing clips from our past episodes on higher education. From the experience of leaders and students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), to the future of security and DEI efforts on college campuses, we hope this episode spotlights the forward progress we’ve seen in higher education despite the SCOTUS ruling. Episodes referenced: Ep. 103: The Future of HBCUs and Higher Education Ep. 55: Important Issues Facing Campus Public Safety Ep. 118: Strategic Communication Methods f ..read more