I sit on the Global Advisory Board of the Institute for Strategic Risk Management (ISRM)—which is an amazing organization that I’m extremely proud and honored to be a part of—and I’ll be in Geneva this coming week to attend and partake in a symposium they’ve put together for the advisory council and other global leaders working together to look at multi-dimensional globally rising risk with the aim of responding to them now, before they continue to scale and culminate over the coming years.
That being said, I’ve taken the following from their Crisis 2030 Manifesto and wanted to bring it here for discussion: “Climate change, increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, hyper-urbanization, infrastructural fragility, IT/cyber dependency, the likelihood of a global pandemic, the increasing development of artificial intelligence and the social pressures that all of the above bring…”
There’s a lot here. A lot of risk and a massive amount of impact in each of these individual areas, let alone how they all play together to increase the exposures to our planet and global society.
And here’s the thing: like it or not, every organization plays an important part in all of this.
We all have a responsibility to be environmentally conscious and proactive.
Where it applies, we have a responsibility to anticipate the impacts of natural disasters and strengthen and protect our infrastructures.
We have a responsibility to understand the scopes and impacts of our technological infrastructures and IT security… and the lists go on and on and on.
All of this plays into the importance of each organization understanding its risks, impacts on the greater whole, and working to become Crisis Ready to equally protect itself and the whole.
Right now, we still live in a primarily shareholder primacy world. While this is shifting towards a stakeholder model (finally and excitedly!), we each need to do our part to continue to progress this forward, looking at long-term impact on all aspects of business, society and globalization, rather than short-term monetary rewards. And it all starts with each of us individually recognizing the power and responsibility that we uniquely have within our roles to impact the greater whole by taking steps in the right direction every single day.
It’s a massive undertaking that can feel overwhelming when we look only at the whole, rather than the individual yet monumental steps we can take to get there–and it’s the sum of these individual, proactive steps that will in fact take us there.
So, with all of this being said, I want to hear from you. How do you see this? How do you approach it? What steps have proven rewarding within your organization that you can share to help, inspire, and motivate others to be mindful and proactive towards creating a Crisis Ready world?
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
I run a small rural school district. Minimal Staffing to cover a world of issues. Dealing with present and future conditions, and the variables that each presents. Issues as simple as electrical needs, out thinking students, who seem prewired to navigate the cyber-world at a rate and ability that my IT is amazed by. 10 and 11 year olds cracking and bypassing systems that are rated as “Full-proof.” The state push for the reduction of carbon production as well as a reduction in water consumption for other than human needs.
The onslaught is endless. Then there is Emergency Preparedness for the variety of events both natural and man-made that “could” happen.
My biggest job is creating staff & Stakeholder understanding and buy-in.
You have such an important job, Perry. Thank you for the work you do and for sharing here. You’re right, it’s endless and we need to be strategic about it all and see it from 360 degrees. This requires the right teams, the right lenses and the right expert help.
On that note, I think you would benefit from an initiative I have just launched called the Crisis Ready Community. I’d love to share more with you if you’re interested. If so, send me an email at community@melissaagnes.com and we will schedule a time to chat.
I look forward to hearing from you and sharing how this brilliant community might be able to help and offer support as you do this important work.
Melissa
Melissa, as I read your blog, our State of NSW (in Australia) is in a state of (government declared emergency) with more than 70 fires burning across the state, about half of them uncontrolled. And our Federal Government delayed the release of a critical report on bushfire emergency because of a link to climate change. It’s simply unacceptable to me, and many, many others. All the Prime Minister can do is “offer thoughts and prayers” – as one of journalists wrote today, “When political leaders such as Prime Minister Scott Morrison offer their thoughts and prayers, it’s hard to read it as anything but disingenuous.”
So, Melissa, as you prepare for your trip to Geneva for the Institute for Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) symposium, please take a very strong message that a global response is indeed needed, and one that is binding, as much as it can be. Countries like Australia should lose their “social license” given our current government’s lack of a holistic response to what is clearly a climate emergency.
Towns have run out of water, there has been widespread corruption, and “fights” over water rights, and I fear it will only get worse, UNLESS there is fierce and binding global response.
I wish you all the goodwill in the world Melissa, and know that you will take a strong and considered voice to the symposium. Our Government needs a VERY strong message.
I’m so sorry for what you are and have been faced with, Janie. I’ve already shared your message and I’m looking forward to the discussions that will be had in the coming days for this very reason — strong leadership, strategic risk management and foresight, and essential steps being taken and acted on to create a crisis ready world, as you know, are so incredibly important to me and, fortunately, many others.
I hope you, your loved ones and all your animals are and remain safe. I’m thinking of you all.
Thank you Melissa. I so appreciate your comments. We are safe – for the moment, and thank goodness for that. Our little community has no water, we’ve been on the highest level of water restrictions for nearly two years.
Back to water for a moment, if I may, I’ve just heard a NSW Regional priest calling for change in how we treat water – as he so rightly said, it’s not a commodity to be traded. It’s an essential part of life.
Go well in Geneva.