Advice for Any Time or Situation

Where it makes sense, it makes sense.

I was leading a an exercise that had a terrorist attack. Client said afterwards, "Great, I know how to respond if there's a terrorist attack, but what are the odds of that?" I said, "No, you know how to respond when physical access to your operations is blocked." You get the bigger picture, you get more than you bargained for.

I won't say what I was watching until the end since I want you to take in the usefulness of what is being said without limiting it in a box. I am making minor edits.

1) It's going to happen again and again and again until something's done.

2) When I get to a [business] that hasn't done anything ahead of time, it is really difficult to get to them and do anything for them to protect them. If things are done ahead of time, it makes a huge difference. There are increases to cost and amount of exposure if nothing done before, plus they need more [resources] to respond.

3) You are now a manager - you can't just sit back and do nothing.

4) The insurance industry is hardening itself. They will reduce their risk profile until they get better understanding of what is going on as part of a cost benefit analysis. If neighbors aren't [de-risking], they are creating the risk and keeping it so it still keeps you in danger.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is insanity.

Help after the fact is limited.

You have the ability and responsibility to act.

Understand that insurance isn't an alternative.

I was watching a panel on building a wildfire resistant future with markets, biomass and partners. The first quote is from a resident in a town that experienced flooding due to seasonal monsoon rains in AZ after wildfire burn scars. The second is from a hot shot firefighter based in Flagstaff, AZ. He was talking about how being a true partner to first responders means you have to make their job easier for them so they can effectively help you. Added to that is the third quote, from the same guy - if you have a building with land surrounding it, you have to take care of it and become a land manager. And lastly, an insurance representative about how insurance companies deal with climate change and disasters, factoring them it into their coverage (which is why you will see insurers completely pull out of markets).

I think all of the points are valid for business continuity. Honestly, insurance companies are doing their own form of business continuity and I'm not mad at them for it. They will come back eventually when it makes sense. I can even tie #1 back to #4: claims are going to keep being made for at-risk properties until something is done -- either people stop coming to the disaster-prone areas or the insurance companies pull out, making people not move (or open businesses) there.

But I really, really like #3. Guess who can help you with that...