Written by Chris Rohner
April 8th, 2018
In April 2018 I got a chance to speak at the “The End of the World as We Know It: The Consequences of Extreme Climate Disruption for Business and Democracy”, Conference with IGEL at the Wharton School at PENN. It was a great opportunity to hear an interesting mix of academic and private sector speakers. From many of the speakers the message was – “change is coming, embrace it, and maybe even benefit from what is happening.” This is a positive message that I try to encourage with my own clients. I tell them, look at current conditions, this is not the world we lived in 10 years ago! We need to think and plan differently.
As someone who has worked as a public sector emergency manager and a private sector emergency management/business continuity consultant the goal of my presentation was to introduce my profession to the attendees and participants and make the case that business continuity is an important element of resilience planning. I also wanted to put some context to the world many communities and businesses are working within – I did this by highlight five “resiliency realities”:
Planning is Critical
The public and private sectors each bring important talents, experience and resources to the table. Coordination and collaboration are key to creating a resilient community and nation. Open dialog needs to start years before the next big event – last minute decision-making does not produce good outcomes. Many cities have public-private planning coordinators within their Office of Emergency Management – this is a great place to start the conversation.
Personal Preparedness is the Foundation of Resilience
I tell this to anyone that will listen…. Personal preparedness for you and your family is critical – a shelter-in-place plan, a communication plan, a Go-Bag for evacuation (and a pet plan if needed) are the basis for community or business preparedness. Look for county resources at your local Office of Emergency Management and visit www.ready.gov for straightforward advice and recommendations.
Our Physical Infrastructure is Fragile
Let’s remember that we live in a country with old, fragile and out-of-date infrastructure. The bridges we need for evacuation are decaying; the schools we need for shelters are old and leak during an average rainstorm. To increasing our resilience, we need to plan smart, think about future climate conditions and rebuild our infrastructure to support our emergency response needs.
Social Justice Raises our Human Resilience
Along with our physical infrastructure the nation must work to increase the resilience of our citizens. We must raise the standard of living for Americans, pay a living wage and seek social equity. We must have a health systems the promote wellness, fiscal education and financial institutions that help low income people promote savings, public and private organizations that teach and uphold civil discourse – these and many more idea create communities that can better withstand events and recovery more quickly.
Act When the Topic is Hot
And lastly, as we all look to promote the increase in resiliency we need to take every opportunity to push this agenda in public policy and budgeting, and when private companies are impacted. Unfortunately, these pushes tend to come right after an event has affected the nation – after a hurricane, a wildfire, or earthquake. While it may see opportunistic – we must seize these times and push the resilience agenda forward. We know from experience that the public’s attention span is short, and unless action is taken quickly the public’s engagement and interest will fall off, as the news cycle moves forward.
About the Author:
Chris Rohner is a business continuity program manager for General Dynamics Information Technology (formerly CSRA). His 25-year background spans emergency management, planning, and response operations, public health, business continuity, community resiliency as well as transportation planning and policy development. He has extensive experience working with local, city, state and regional government agencies and the private sector to find straightforward solutions to complex problems by focusing on clients’ specific circumstances. In the public sector he has held key management positions with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Bureau of Emergency Management; and the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In the private sector he has worked as a program manager within the community resilience space at Ecology and Environment, Inc. and at CSRA, now General Dynamics Information Technology.
IGEL @ Wharton 