crisis - Blog - Global Risk Community2024-03-28T18:48:22Zhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/crisisCrisis Leadership - Interview with Caroline Saprielhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/crisis-leadership-interview-with-caroline-sapriel2018-02-22T14:30:00.000Z2018-02-22T14:30:00.000ZBoris Agranovichhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/BorisAgranovich<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028264683,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028264683,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="350" class="align-left" height="233" alt="8028264683?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p>Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to our live discussion about crisis leadership. Today, we have our interview with Caroline Sapriel. Caroline is our member and managing partner at <a href="http://www.csa-crisis.com/" target="_blank">CS&A International</a>, a leading global risk and crisis management firm. She is an experienced international crisis resilience professional with over 25 years of experience in risk, crisis and continuity management. Additionally, she has an extensive expertise in crisis communication. Caroline coaches senior executives in all aspects of communication skills and is recognized as a leader in her profession. She is an accomplished trainer and facilitator. She is regularly invited to speak at international conferences and seminars on risk and crisis management. She is a guest lecturer on crisis management at Antwerp University and has taught a course on corporate crises at the Graduate School of Public Administration of Leiden University.</p>
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<p>Now, at some point in their career, most CEOs will lead their organizations through a crisis for instance downsizing or a merger or an industry-wide upheaval wrought by new technology. But few CEOs will face crisis as disruptive and dramatic those encountered – and overcome it.</p>
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<p>Now my first question to you, Caroline. What is a crisis and what is effective crisis leadership? Can you give some examples of a bad and good crisis leadership?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> A crisis is a major disruption. It can be an event, an allegation or revelation or a set of circumstances that threatens the integrity, the survival and the reputation of the organization involved. It challenges the public sense of safety and appropriateness, and more than anything else, a crisis is a situation where the organization involved has virtually no control. So even if the problem is fixed or resolved, the crisis has a life of its own and it ends up at court of stakeholder and public opinion. That is a crisis and in today’s world, we see many. We almost see some every day. Therefore, crisis leadership is critical and it’s about recognizing that even if you can’t control the events, you can definitely control your organization’s destiny and how you want your organization to be perceived during and after the crisis.</p>
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<p>So, I typically make an important distinction between a crisis and what I call a reputation meltdown. In a crisis, the problem may be difficult to resolve, the crisis can last a long time and there is potentially major impact, but the organization manages to retain the trust of its key stakeholders. In the reputation meltdown category, the problem may be difficult to resolve, it can also last a long time and the potential damage is considerable, but because of poor leadership, the organization involved, loses all credibility and the trust of its stakeholders. That’s when it can end up in that sort of reputation meltdown or train wreck, however you want to call it.</p>
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<p>Now, unfortunately, there are more examples of bad crisis leadership than good. Probably because hear more about the ones that are badly managed. A well-managed crisis does not seem to get the same level of attention and blame.</p>
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<p>But we find examples of good crisis leaders in history. The one that comes to mind is Prime Minister Churchill. The new movie “The Darkest Hour” highlights the challenges and the pressure and political opposition that Churchill went through in May-June 1940 to prevent the capitulation to Germany and instead go on fighting the war.</p>
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<p>Churchill’s was very focused and recognized that it is not possible to win on all fronts. He provided the British people with purpose to keep going and a vision of the aftermath of the crisis. These are fundamental and critical principles of crisis leadership. By contrast, there are a number of crises in recent years where leaders were unable to retain that credibility nor to provide a direction to their organization throughout the crisis. Instead, they seemed literally managed or led by the crisis itself, instead of leading through it and retaining stakeholder trust. There are many examples of that among multinational corporations and other organizations.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> In your article, “Crisis Leadership: Have You Got What it Takes?” you make a difference between crisis and reputation train wreck. Could you please elaborate on this?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Most organizations will face a crisis at some point in their lifecycle so it’s very often a question of if it’s more of a question of when. Crises happen, they happen for a bunch of reasons. It could be human error, it could be because of major external factors or it could be failures in their own systems of operation and management control. When that happens, a crisis can really have significant impact on the organization. However, with good crisis leadership, the organization involved is able to retain the trust of stakeholders, and remain in the crisis category and not become a reputation meltdown.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, in a reputation meltdown category, stakeholders are saying we don’t like you, we don’t like what you represent, we don’t like how you’re managing this, I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel it’s appropriate, I feel that the values that you are displaying are completely wrong.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> What are the major steps for a leader to prepare the organization for the crisis?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Large organizations today have quite a lot in place to manage crises, they typically, also have solid risk management systems, they have risk registers where they catalogue the critical risks or the risks that are more likely to happen and would have severe impact. Risk management and crisis preparedness work alongside each other. Crisis preparedness starts with having procedures in place. But that is not enough. People need to know how to use these procedures and therefore, you need training and you need practice via exercises with a continuous loop of feedback and improvement. We typically say that a good crisis management is not a destination but it’s a journey because conditions, circumstances, factors evolve and it’s impossible to be completely prepared.</p>
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<p>In this context, the CEO needs to recognize that it takes more than good business acumen and business experience to manage a crisis. Crisis management takes special skills and acknowledging that you don’t manage a crisis like you manage a bad week at the office is the first step.</p>
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<p>For some, this is difficult because of the assumption that, well, I’ve been in this business for 25-30 years, therefore, I know my company, I know my industry, I know my business, therefore I can manage this crisis. This assumption is plainly wrong and risky. It takes special skills to manage a crisis and that recognition is critical for leaders and crisis management teams.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> Alright. Are there any recommended trainings to get leaders adequately prepared for crisis?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Yes, certainly, we have developed a crisis leadership model and we train senior teams in crisis leadership competencies. This includes a crisis leadership competency matrix that helps leaders and crisis teams assess themselves against best practice standards and provides a roadmap to acquire and improve their crisis leadership skills.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> What should business leaders who are unsure whether or not they possess crisis leadership skills do?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> The first thing they can do is to take part in a crisis simulation exercise where they can practice their role as crisis leader. During such exercises, facilitators will help participants recognize the strengths and gaps that they might have. In addition, as stated earlier, using a competency matrix provides a formal framework to assess crisis leaders’ ability to manage a crisis.</p>
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<p>Once the baseline has been established, the second step is to focus on the set of skills that these leaders must possess to perform optimally as crisis leaders.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> What sort of skills and competencies do leaders need to possess to anticipate manage crisis and help their organizations recover from them?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Leaders need to be very attuned to the world around them, how the changing environment can actually impact their business and to the risks and threats that their industry face.</p>
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<p>There’s a lot of talk at the moment about cyber threats. But there are other risks such as reputation, environmental and people threats. Therefore, the first thing is to map risks, assess threat levels and develop mitigation plans to address the more critical ones.</p>
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<p>Because it is a fact that it is impossible to eliminate all risks, crises do happen and preparedness is key to minimizing their impact.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> Also, a popular question is how should crisis leaders prepare for TV interviews?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Going back to the previous question since one can never completely eliminate the risk of crisis, organizations must be prepared for the worst and this includes leaders ability to communicate effectively. Good crisis leadership includes being visible and communicating with a wide range of stakeholders successfully. Media and stakeholder communication is something that can leaders can acquire through training via a range of crisis and media communication courses. Leaders must recognize the make or break power of communication in a crisis and learn to get used to communicating in under pressure. Sensitive and clear communication is key in a crisis and many have learned it the hard way.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> Thank you, Caroline. Last question, what is your company doing that is unique in the crisis management space?</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Well, we’ve been in this field for over 25 years. We were one of the first to totally focus on integrated risk, crisis and business continuity. Crisis management is our business. So as a result over the years of working across industries, globally, with multinationals and other organizations, we have developed deep expertise and designed a number o unique methodologies, tools and processes that help organizations be better prepared or add value to those that already have a lot in in place. As I said earlier, it’s not about the destination, crisis management and preparedness is a journey.</p>
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<p>The world around us is dynamic; therefore, to increase resilience, we must continuously adjust and upgrade our vigilance and preparedness to the evolving risk environment.</p>
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<p><strong>Boris:</strong> Thank you, Caroline. It was a very interesting interview.</p>
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<p><strong>Caroline:</strong> Thank you very much, Boris.</p></div>2016: The Year in Crisis - Rising Risks and More to Comehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/2016-the-year-in-crisis-rising-risks-and-more-to-come2017-03-05T09:30:00.000Z2017-03-05T09:30:00.000ZBoris Agranovichhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/BorisAgranovich<div><p><a href="http://research.globalriskcommunity.com/content63328" target="_blank"><img width="300" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028254469,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="8028254469?profile=original" /></a>2016: The year in crisis provides The Economist Intelligence Unit’s assessment of sources of corporate risk in the year 2016, its evolution over the next three years, and a perspective on the role of the board of directors in managing crises.</p>
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<p>Read more by clicking on the link below... </p>
<p><a href="http://research.globalriskcommunity.com/content63328" target="_blank">2016: The Year in Crisis - Rising Risks and More to Come</a></p></div>Business Continuity Is Crucial for Reducing Data Breach Costs. Here's Why.https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/business-continuity-is-crucial-for-reducing-data-breach-costs2016-08-11T21:01:23.000Z2016-08-11T21:01:23.000ZLou DiSerafinohttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/LouDiSerafino880<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028248691,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="300" height="199" class="align-left" style="width:257px;height:170px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028248691,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8028248691?profile=original" /></a>A couple of weeks ago, a colleague of mine came to tell me about a new finding that she knew I'd love: BCM helps reduce data breach costs.</p><p>All I could think was, 'FINALLY.'</p><p>This is something that I've been telling clients for years: BCM is more valuable to your business than you can possibly imagine.</p><p>The new research from Ponemon Institute found that data breaches now cost as much as $4m - to say nothing of reputational hits. And, you could face a double whammy with <a href="http://www.infinitive.com/2015/10/21/why-a-data-breach-could-make-your-insurance-premiums-skyrocket/" target="_blank">higher insurance premiums</a>, too.</p><p>But the research also found that companies with strong BCM programs found and dealt with breaches faster than companies without. Those saved days translate not only into dollars, but preserved customer trust.</p><p>For my full take on this exciting new validation of the value of BCM, <a href="http://www.infinitive.com/2016/07/22/business-continuity-key-mitigating-data-breach-costs/" target="_blank"><strong>check out this article</strong></a>. </p></div>We Need a Human Economyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/we-need-a-human-economy2016-04-22T14:49:51.000Z2016-04-22T14:49:51.000ZEnrique Raul Suarezhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/EnriqueRaulSuarez<div><p></p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028249475,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028249475,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8028249475?profile=original" /></a></p><h2 style="text-align:center;" class="center"><strong>Let’s Ditch the Economy of the 1% and Replace it with a Human Economy</strong></h2><p style="text-align:center;"> </p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center">Written by:</p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><strong>Winnie Byanyima</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center">Executive Director, Oxfam International</p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p>If we want an economy of the 1%, then GDP is very useful. It tells us all we need to know. But if we want an economy that works for us all, we have to pay attention to what it is not telling us.</p><p>In the face of a growing inequality crisis, GDP tells us nothing about the distribution of growth. When just 62 people have the same wealth as half the world’s population, where a country like Zambia can grow rapidly in GDP terms and yet can see increased levels of poverty, and where the 1% own more than everyone else combined, growing GDP simply hides the poverty within.</p><p>GDP tells us nothing about the real price we are paying for such growth. Cutting down a forest for timber adds to GDP, but what we don’t record is the loss to our wealth in terms of natural resources. We treat a planet at crisis point as an externality that can be shunted into a future generation. We continue to act as if we had the natural resources of several planets, not one.</p><p>You can read the rest of this excellent article in the below link:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/let-s-ditch-the-economy-of-the-1-and-replace-it-with-a-human-economy/" target="_blank">Human Economy</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>New Problems call for New Ideas and New Leadershttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/new-problems-call-for-new-ideas-and-new-leaders2016-04-22T14:41:19.000Z2016-04-22T14:41:19.000ZEnrique Raul Suarezhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/EnriqueRaulSuarez<div><p></p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028243270,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="400" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028243270,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8028243270?profile=original" /></a></p><h2 style="text-align:center;" class="center"><strong>How Millennials will Save us from our Broken Economic System</strong></h2><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"> </p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center">Written by:</p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><strong>Henrik Storm Dyrseen</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center">Managing Director, Leksell Social Ventures, Stockholm</p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p>In a crisis of economic and political leadership, who should we turn to for a vision of the future, for the rebirth of our society? Turn to the young, for they shall inherit the earth.</p><p><b>A crisis of capitalism and leadership</b></p><p>Capitalism is coming under attack. The way of the free market, with its gospel of globalization and the primacy of growth and GDP as a measure of happiness, is under siege.</p><p>From the financial crisis of 2008, via the great recession that followed, into the quantitatively eased pains of low consumption and investment, the emperor of profit stands naked, undressed by the Panama Papers. Many people have had enough.</p><p>Faced with these challenges, our leaders have been called out and found wanting. If you're not convinced of the crisis of democratic governance and its ability to provide sound leadership, you need simply look at what's been happening in the US elections.</p><p><b>New problems call for new leaders</b></p><p>Our national, regional and international institutions and paradigms have been called into question. The state of affairs is hardly catastrophic, although some of the forecasts sound eerily similar to those that precipitated the rise of communism, fascism and the world wars.</p><p>But look beyond the pre-millennium institutions and to the problems we face here and now. What is their nature and why have these institutions been unable to tackle some of today's biggest challenges? Who has ownership for and is able to solve things like:</p><ul><li>Economically frustrated and disillusioned youth in the Middle East, Africa and European suburbs being targeted by extremists promising to give them meaning, significance and identity in supposed holy struggles?</li><li>Corporations siphoning of profits from welfare markets with poor quality control?</li><li>Politicians becoming advisers to industries they were not long before in charge of regulating?</li><li>Non-profits freed from VAT and income taxes competing in free markets?</li></ul><p>Are these social, political, business or cultural questions? Is it even possible for one institution to take on all these problems and their multi-faceted causes? No, the challenges of our time require strategies and solutions that span the private, public and civil sector spheres. We live in a time when corporations see their markets continually shaped and reshaped by politics. Politics is determined by lobby money and the consumer media news cycle. And a frustrated civil society has disconnected from political grassroots movements to challenge markets and national politics directly.</p><p>The leadership for this day and age is the leadership of cross-sector experience and collaboration. Harvard professor Joseph Nye calls them <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/09/triple-strength-leadership" target="_blank">tri-sector athletes</a> – individuals and organizations that nimbly cross traditional spheres of influence to translate and broker these different institutional logic into private-public, government-civil and civil-private partnerships and solutions.</p><p><b>Leadership development for 21st-century challenges</b></p><p>But where will we find these leaders when our universities still offer siloed professional programmes such as business, engineering, law or medicine? How will such medical schools train the doctors needed to develop user-experience-design for medical technology that will make many doctors obsolete? What business school programme helps students acquire the socio-political business savvy needed to develop legitimate participation for private enterprise in welfare sectors without sacrificing trading quality for profits? What about the socially conscious engineers needed to develop scalable technologies to support social development and catastrophic relief efforts?</p><p>There are people out there that have seen their careers straddle sectors, defying the labor market silos. We see a disproportionate number of them in our sector, the nascent impact investment industry, the business proposition of which is indeed to make the link between private, public and civil society organizations, resources and activities. We call them <a href="https://www.pacificcommunityventures.org/2015/07/28/impact-investing-2-0-the-way-forward-insight-from-12-outstanding-funds/" target="_blank">multilingual leaders</a>. What we have further learned is that millennials in particular are natural multilingual leaders.</p><p><b>A case for the millennial promise</b></p><p>Millennials are widely criticized for their infuriating intolerance for norms and institutions, their disloyalty and self-centered focus, and their tendency to chose meaning over traditional, respectable pursuits such as career or money.</p><p>They are the most educated generation in history. At the same time, they shun higher education, because skills like programming are easier and faster to pick up organically, and are rewarded by strong labor market demand. This generation sees dropping out of Harvard as more worthy of merit than graduating from the same institution.</p><p>Millennials love employers that mix purpose with socio-professional development and economic opportunity. In the impact investment industry, we notice this because our combination of social or environmental purpose, professional skills development across private, public and civil sectors, and ethos of creating solutions that straddle sectors, attract millennial talent like bees to honey. Millennials frustrate managers and parents. Yet they also offer great promise, as digitally native, entrepreneurial and cosmopolitan world citizens.</p><p><img class="center" src="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAhGAAAAJDM4ZDdhYzQyLTc2ODAtNGQ0Ny05NDkyLWNkNTE0Yjk2Y2QzNQ.gif" height="392" width="580" alt="AAEAAQAAAAAAAAhGAAAAJDM4ZDdhYzQyLTc2ODAtNGQ0Ny05NDkyLWNkNTE0Yjk2Y2QzNQ.gif" /></p><p></p><p>I believe millennials will save the day because they have the ideal attitudes to develop as tri-sector athletes.</p><p></p><p>1. <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2014/05/millenials-upend-wall-street-corporate-america-winograd-hais" target="_blank">Millennials demand purpose in their careers</a>, not least from business: They will not accept politicians who do not understand the consumer markets they grew up loving. They will not stand for markets that undermine the welfare they were promised. They will not stand for employers that do not live and lead by the values they attract talent with.</p><p>2. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2014/08/14/authenticity-the-way-to-the-millennials-heart/#62a3f0e0444a" target="_blank">Millennials demand authenticity from leadership</a>: They question everything and they respect no given truth. They demand leadership that recognizes an organization's challenges, limitations and failures, leadership that invites them to collaborate to solve difficult problems impacting the triple bottom line.</p><p>3. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/how-are-millennials-leading-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/" target="_blank">Millennials do not respect or trust authority or institutions:</a> You will never own them. They will not join you, but they will take up your organization's employment offer. They will not stay – either at your compay or in one single sector – but will instead transit across traditional boundaries to chase the problems and purposes that engage them, shapeshifting from professional to political to entrepreneurial as they go.</p><p>4. <a href="https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/marketing_center_consumer_customer_insight_how_millennials_changing_marketing_forever/?chapter=3" target="_blank">Millennials are ambassadors, not employees:</a> They instinctively develop understanding and make and market their decisions through dialogue and interactions with others.</p><p>The employers that learn to attract, stimulate and leverage millennial talent will have a fierce competitive advantage in the decades to come. They will see the limits of their firms challenged by the continuous flow and interaction between politics, business and engaging purpose that already provides the license to operate in most sectors of society. Here is one tip for success: value and reward cross-sector experience and skills-building in millennial talent. You will train powerful ambassadors across the social fabric of society, whether they stay for a summer or for years.</p><p></p><p></p></div>Official: Japan Dodged Global Financial Crash Because Of Bankers’ Poor Englishhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/official-japan-dodged-global-financial-crash-because-of-bankers2016-03-30T18:26:46.000Z2016-03-30T18:26:46.000ZEnrique Raul Suarezhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/EnriqueRaulSuarez<div><p></p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028246875,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028246875,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="259" alt="8028246875?profile=original" /></a></p><div class="article-body" dir="ltr"><h2 style="text-align:center;" class="center"><strong>Official: Japan Dodged Global Financial Crash Because Of Bankers’ Poor English</strong></h2><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"> </p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><span class="font-size-3">Source:</span></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>MintPress News</strong></span></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><span class="font-size-3">This article was written on June 29, 2913</span></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Aso said bankers did not speak English well enough to understand the complex financial instruments that undid other major global players. </strong></span></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"></p><p>Japan can thank a poor grasp of English among the country’s bankers for the country’s weathering the 2008 global credit crisis virtually unscathed, according to Finance Minister Taro Aso.</p><p></p><p>Aso said senior Japanese bankers did not speak English well enough to understand the complex financial instruments that brought the other major global players undone.</p><p><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/29/business/poor-english-skills-saved-japans-bankers-from-subprime-loan-fiasco-aso/#.Uc4RwuvXVhB" target="_blank">According to a report in the Japan Times</a>, Aso told a seminar in Tokyo:</p><p class="center"></p><p class="center"><em>“Many people fell prey to the dubious products, or so-called subprime loans. Japanese banks were not so much attracted to these products, compared with <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/internal/section-config/europe" target="_blank">European</a> banks. There was an American who said Japanese banks are healthy, but that’s not true at all. Managers of Japanese banks hardly understood English. That’s why they didn’t buy.”</em></p><p></p><p>So had those same bankers has the benefit of knowing the Queen’s English have meant a different fate for Japan during the Global Financial Crisis?</p><p></p><p>Most likely, a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/06/28/did-poor-english-save-japan-from-subprime/" target="_blank">report in the Wall Street Journal</a> would indicate.</p><p></p><p>The WSJ wrote that Aso, himself a successful businessman, recently declared that companies had become too risk-averse.</p><p>As a result of focusing too much on safety, Japanese banks now had no borrowers, and thus couldn’t make money.</p><p></p><p>The financial paper wrote:</p><p class="center"></p><p style="text-align:center;" class="center"><em>Following the collapse of the economic bubble in early 1990s, Japanese companies ‘shifted gear from profit-maximization to debt-minimization,’ he said. “All the profit was used to repay the debt.”</em></p><p></p><p>Aso, a former prime minister, is no stranger to controversy.</p><p></p><p>Off-the-cuff remarks that have landed him in hot water before include saying that the elderly should be allowed to “hurry up and die” instead of costing the government money with expensive end-of-life medical care.</p><p></p><p><em>This article originally was published at <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/gfc-japan-english-japanese-banks-taro-aso-shinzo-abe-glob" target="_blank">Global Post</a>.</em></p><p></p></div></div>Why ERM Is a Business Enabler, Not an Obstacle to Overcomehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/why-erm-is-a-business-enabler-not-an-obstacle-to-overcome2016-02-19T18:58:04.000Z2016-02-19T18:58:04.000ZLou DiSerafinohttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/LouDiSerafino880<div><p>Evidence is mounting that it is no longer an option to ignore investments in this important organizational capability. Companies need a rigorous enterprise risk management framework to effectively compete in today's uncertain environment. To help companies understand why they need ERM, here's an excerpt from <a href="http://www.infinitive.com/2016/02/04/how-investing-in-strategic-risk-management-brings-value-to-the-business/">my take</a> on how enterprise risk management enables the business to move faster and overcome disruption:</p><blockquote><p>The wider adoption of strategic risk management cannot come fast enough to save everyone. But for many leading companies, it is increasingly clear to senior executives and board directors that enterprise risk management is not an inhibitor of business performance, as it was often viewed in the past, but is actually a powerful enabler of market success.</p><p>That shift in thinking is borne out by a wide range of academic and market research...</p></blockquote><p>Here's an operational risk example from The Impact of Catastrophes on Shareholder Value:</p><blockquote><p>The authors found that, in the wake of a catastrophic event (such as a natural disaster or major data breach),companies with more robust business continuity and resilience plans were <a href="http://www.infinitive.com/2015/09/01/how-crisis-equals-opportunity-improve-your-business-continuity-program/">punished less by shareholders</a>.</p><p>Specifically, those organizations suffered lower market capitalization decreases – 5% or less – and enjoyed quicker returns to pre-crisis levels, with an average +5% impact on shareholder value by the fiftieth day post-catastrophe...</p></blockquote><p>So what is the bottom line for risk professionals and the business leaders they advise?</p><blockquote><p>[ERM] has turned into a capability that very much impacts the bottom line. An effective, reliable and relied-on ERM capability is a competitive difference-maker that you don’t want to be without during these increasingly uncertain times.</p></blockquote><p><strong><a href="http://www.infinitive.com/2016/02/04/how-investing-in-strategic-risk-management-brings-value-to-the-business/">Check out the complete article</a></strong> on Infinitive.com for my full perspective.</p><p></p></div>What’s Wrong with Britain? Poor Housing, Education and Health in Crisishttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/what-s-wrong-with-britain-poor-housing-education-and-health-in2015-10-05T16:39:42.000Z2015-10-05T16:39:42.000ZEnrique Raul Suarezhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/EnriqueRaulSuarez<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028237083,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="400" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028237083,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8028237083?profile=original" /></a></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>What’s Wrong with Britain? Poor Housing, Education and Health in Crisis</strong></span></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;">Source:</p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/lesley-docksey" target="_blank"><span><span>Lesley Docksey</span></span></a></strong></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"></p><p class="center" style="text-align:center;"><strong>Global Research, October 05, 2015</strong></p><p></p><p><em>One glance on Sunday morning at <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk" target="_blank"><span><span>The Guardian</span></span></a> website demonstrated quite clearly what is wrong with Britain – and, probably, the rest of the ‘developed’ world. Three major concerns of the average household were news. And all three are connected, not just to each other, but to the way this country is being run.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Housing and the ‘Right to Buy’</strong></p><p>This country has never recovered from the 1980s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Buy" target="_blank"><span><span>Great British Sell-off</span></span></a> of our social housing – council houses and flats. Having sold them off, councils weren’t then allowed to use the money to build much needed… council houses. There has been a social housing crisis ever since.</p><p>Tory plans to force housing associations (private, non-profit organisations) to go down the same path will lead to more desperate people that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/04/right-to-buy-extension-unworkable-council-group-lga" target="_blank"><span><span>local councils</span></span></a> will have to deal with. The Tories are fond of telling us we all ‘aspire’ to home ownership, but that aspiration comes second to people’s simple wish to have a secure, affordable roof over their heads. Whether it’s the rent or the mortgage that is affordable is not actually that relevant.</p><p></p><p><strong>Education and the loss of morale</strong></p><p>Why is it that each new government has to overhaul the education system, just when teachers have got to grips with the last ‘reforms’? A YouGov poll finds that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/04/half-of-teachers-consider-leaving-profession-shock-poll" target="_blank"><span><span>over 50 per cent</span></span></a> of teachers are thinking of leaving the profession. Yet people go into teaching because they sincerely want to teach. Schools Minister Nick Gibb says “Teaching remains a highly popular profession…” He continues, “While many teachers stay in their roles for more than five years…” Five years? Is that now a long time to be in a job that used to be for life</p><p>Governments have for years depended on teaching being a ‘vocation’. No matter the conditions, the extra hours, the lack of support they receive, teachers will go on teaching, won’t they? Not any more it seems.</p><p></p><p><strong>Health, the NHS and corrupt money</strong></p><p>Poor housing and poor education often result in poor health, but we all know the National Health Service is in trouble financially. Tories use that as a good reason to privatise parts of it, but that doesn’t stop them <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/03/ministers-hiding-details-nhs-cash-crisis" target="_blank"><span><span>hiding</span></span></a> how bad it has got under their watch. One of the main problems has been the Private Finance Initiatives, introduced by the Tories, which has led to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/money/loans-credit/crippling-pfi-deals-leave-britain-222bn-in-debt-10170214.html" target="_blank"><span><span>crippling debts</span></span></a>.</p><p>While the right to buy has ruined the supply of housing for poorer people, so PFIs have ruined many hospitals. Those built under PFIs still have to allocate large sums of their budget away from patient care, just to go on paying the interest on these deals. Governments should get bold and put an end to this. Financiers have earned more than enough from the poor taxpayers.</p><p>But they won’t. Another health story to emerge is connected to the Volkswagen scandal, where harmful emissions have been polluting the air when customers had been led to believe that VW was environmentally friendly. It turns out they are rather more friendly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/04/vw-scandal-emissions-test-body-conflict-of-interest-accusation" target="_blank"><span><span>to the body</span></span></a> that is supposed to measure and monitor the emissions produced by their cars.</p><p>But although Housing, Health and Education form major ‘life’ concerns for the average person, for people earning a less than generous salary all three areas are heavily impacted by the lack of financial security. It goes without saying that the Guardian and other newspapers had, in September, highlighted the news that ‘zero hours’ contracts rose by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/02/number-of-workers-on-zero-hours-contracts-up-by-19" target="_blank"><span><span>nearly a fifth</span></span></a> last year. And it should come as no surprise that they will increase because business groups are in favour of such contracts.</p><p>So there we have it: insecure jobs, insecure housing, and an insecure education system that lets down both teachers and pupils, all of which results in poor health that can’t be addressed by a failing health-care system.</p><p></p><p><strong>Insecurity is the problem.</strong></p><p>Life itself is never secure and dependable, but the current government and its devotion to business and profit are making life a whole lot less secure for many people. Are the Tories hoping we’ll all simply die of worry? Then they can close down government and go and enjoy themselves.</p><p>Oh no! Where have all the servants gone?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>My First Post in Global Risk Communityhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/my-first-post-in-global-risk-community2014-10-03T13:43:59.000Z2014-10-03T13:43:59.000ZVictorhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/Victor607<div><p></p><p>I'd like to introduce myself in this post. Having served in Defense for 20 years, I gained lots of experience in Crisis Management and Risk Management. Those experiences helped me in many other areas of life and profession. In Production, Marketing, and in Management I applied my previous experience and could get through successfully. I found the Global Risk community interesting and packed with lots of information. I also write of several sites on Various topics. I have written more than 630 articles on different subjects. <a href="http://http//www.bubblews.com/account/62802-writefree" target="_blank">http://www.bubblews.com/account/62802-writefree</a></p><p></p><p>I'd like to share the link of an article written by me in Bubblews regarding Crisis Management which is closer to risk Management. This is a very shot post in which I shared a glimpse of the big subject. </p><p><a href="/http://www.bubblews.com/news/5806772-crisis-management-skills-a-success-formula" target="_blank">http://www.bubblews.com/news/5806772-crisis-management-skills-a-success-formula</a></p><p>This is just an introductory post. Hoping to share much in future.</p><p></p></div>Useful Resources for Financial Literacyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/useful-resources-for-financial-literacy2014-06-12T22:19:09.000Z2014-06-12T22:19:09.000ZTal Yampolskyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TalYampolsky<div><p>The purpose of this blog post is to stress the importance of financial education (literacy) by gathering valuable resources that will help both youth and adults get a better understanding of finance.</p><p></p><p>I chose to write about financial literacy as lack of it represents the basis for most of the legislation and regulation initiatives. With products getting more complex the consumers are more vulnerable to mis-selling. Also, this is no secret consumers may show irresponsibility in their financial decisions.</p><p></p><p>I often tend to compare financial literacy to driving competency. The authorities can enhance the infrastructure, regulate speed and enforce the behaviour on the road, put more signage, strengthen the license eligibility process and expand police presence but it won't necessarily be more effective than the driving education provided by parents, schools, authorities or the media.</p><p></p><p>A <a href="https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/files/habits-set-by-age-seven-pr-220513-final.pdf">study</a> conducted by the <a href="https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en">Money Advice Service (UK)</a> confirmed that the adult money habits are set by the age of seven years old. The study showed that by the age of seven most children recognize the value of money, understand that money can be exchanged for goods and are capable of complex functions such as planning ahead and comparing between choices. Despite the conclusion above, this study also shows that children under the age of eight haven't developed an understanding of the differences between ‘luxuries’ and ‘necessities’.</p><p></p><p>Another <a href="http://regradar.com/talk.php?id=48668&FINRA-Foundation-Study-Finds-Millennials-Struggle-Financially">study</a> conducted by the <a href="http://www.finrafoundation.org/">FINRA Investor Education Foundation (USA)</a> showed that young millennials (ages 18 to 26) display low level of financial literacy, engage in problematic financial behaviours and express concerns about their debt.</p><p></p><p>It hasn't been a surprise that the <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-FCIC/pdf/GPO-FCIC.pdf">Financial Crisis Inquiry Report</a> concluded a combination of excessive borrowing, risky investments and lack of transparency put the financial system on a collision course with the 2008 crisis. In conjunction with other outcomes, the report concluded that households were left vulnerable to financial distress as their mortgage debt doubled while wages remained the same.</p><p></p><p>The timing of this article is not random as we're approaching the summer break period across the world. Youngsters are going to start their summer vacation and some of them will be starting their summer jobs.</p><p></p><p>The <a href="http://www.consumerfinance.gov/">CFPB (US)</a> addressed this matter in their <a href="http://regradar.com/talk.php?id=152485&Summer-jobs-are-a-perfect-time-to-build-financial-skills-for-young-people">recent publication</a> stating that "For young people, particularly those between the ages of 16-24 who may be entering the workforce for the first time, developing good money management skills is critical. Without the necessary financial knowledge and skills, many will not develop money management habits, trapping them in a future with limited savings, high debt, or compromised credit."</p><p></p><p>I believe with appropriate financial education some people could have avoided financial incapability. Therefore, I decided to gather several resources that can help households (both youngsters and adults) who want to learn and teach finance. This list can be also used by <span>financial institution who want to provide added-value services and organizations that want to offer valuable educational resources.</span></p><p></p><ul><li><a href="http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/">MoneySENSE</a> - A national financial education program</li><li><a href="http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search/?selected_facets=audience_exact%3AParents&selected_facets=tag_exact%3Afinancial+education">ask cfpb</a> - Ideas for how parents can talk to their kids about money</li><li><a href="http://www.finrafoundation.org/">FINRA Foundation</a> - Provides knowledge, skills and tools necessary for financial success</li><li><a href="http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0022-financial-educators">FTC Consumer Information</a> - Articles, videos and blog posts about financial topics</li><li><a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/young_adults.pdf">FSA</a> - Case studies of organisations assisting young adults</li><li><a href="http://www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php">FINRA Quiz</a> - Financial Literacy Quiz</li><li><a href="http://www.centralbank.ie/education/Pages/default.aspx">Central Bank of Ireland</a> - Education and resources</li><li><a href="http://moneyasyougrow.org/">Money as You Grow</a> - 20 things kids and young adults need to know</li><li><a href="http://twocents.lifehacker.com/your-guide-to-free-resources-for-improving-your-money-s-1557390942">lifehacker</a> - Improve Your Money Skills with These Free Resources</li><li><a href="http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Life-Stages">360 Financial Literacy</a> - Helping understand personal finance through every stage of life</li><li><a href="http://www.rbi.org.in/financialeducation/home.aspx#sthash.zvwJRiBq.dpuf">Financial Education</a> - Reserve Bank of India's Financial Education Initiative (Contributed by <a href="http://in.linkedin.com/pub/subramanian-sankaranarayanan/14/9a9/140">Subramanian Sankaranarayanan</a>)</li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarketechInteractive">Financial Literacy for Women</a> - Financial literacy Facebook page resources (Contributed by <a href="www.linkedin.com/in/marketechinteractive1">Gayle Barr</a>)</li></ul><p></p><p>Are you familiar with additional useful resources?</p><p></p><p><span><a href="http://regradar.com" target="_blank">RegRadar.com</a> is an online regulatory hub that collects and analyses regulatory information.</span></p></div>Gold as Investmenthttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/gold-as-investment2013-02-20T08:30:00.000Z2013-02-20T08:30:00.000ZJos Berkemeijerhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosBerkemeijer<div><p>Financial institutions have to optimize ‘Risk – Return’ and diversify their portfolio. The next presentation of a study illustrates the power of Gold as one of the best asset classes to optimize ‘Risk – Return’ in a given portfolio.</p><div class="separator" style="clear:both;float:left;text-align:center;"><br /> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ED6bealmG-I/T-JHnndpr9I/AAAAAAAACHE/3cxhZyARgvM/s1600/act-now-actuary.jpg" style="clear:left;float:left;margin-bottom:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ED6bealmG-I/T-JHnndpr9I/AAAAAAAACHE/3cxhZyARgvM/s1600/act-now-actuary.jpg" alt="act-now-actuary.jpg" /><br /> <br /></a></div><p>Just widen your knowledge about monetary gold by examining the next presentation I gave on June 19 2012 as a 'Johan de Witt Lecture' before 60 in gold interested actuaries of the Dutch Actuarial Association (Actuarieel Genootschap, AG).<br /> <br /> The Dutch Actuarial Association (DAA) is the professional association of actuaries and actuarial specialists in the Netherlands. You can apply tot join the DAA community on LinkedIn at : <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Dutch-Actuarial-Association-92161/about" target="_blank">DAALI</a><br /> <br /> With the help of a button (""ACTuary NOW" ),I call for action by actuaries on several main issues.<br /> <br /> Download 'Gold as Investment PDF': <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028223301,original{{/staticFileLink}}">Gold as Investment PDF</a> or view <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/97720733/Gold-as-Investment" title="View Gold as Investment on Scribd">Gold as Investment</a> on SCRIBD.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8028223501,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}8028223501,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="548" class="align-center" alt="8028223501?profile=original" /></a></p></div>Social Media for Security and Risk Management Professionals [Webinar]https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/social-media-for-security-and-risk-management-professionals2013-01-17T21:11:05.000Z2013-01-17T21:11:05.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#000080;"><strong>Social Media for Security and Risk Management Professionals</strong></span></p><p style="text-align:center;"></p><p style="text-align:center;"><em><span style="color:#000080;"><strong>Everything you NEED to know</strong></span></em></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#000080;"><strong>[Webinar]</strong></span></p><p><a href="http://managementresearchdevelopment.com/webinars/social-media-security-risk-management-professionals" target="_blank"><img src="http://managementresearchdevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/social_bomb-300x225.png?width=400" width="400" class="align-center" alt="social_bomb-300x225.png?width=400" /></a></p><p></p><p><strong><a href="http://managementresearchdevelopment.com/webinars/social-media-security-risk-management-professionals" target="_blank">Click Here</a></strong></p><p>Social media is a growing influence on businesses and executive management.</p><p><em><strong>Do you know they key issues affecting your business and how social media plays a role? </strong></em></p><p>This webinar is aimed at security and risk managers to help them quickly understand the issues, concerns and opportunities that social media presents.</p><p>The session will cover:</p><ul><li>What social media really is for businesses</li><li>The big ones to be aware of and why</li><li>How and what to monitor</li><li>Crisis, response and defence online</li><li>Social Intelligence</li></ul><p><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong><a href="http://managementresearchdevelopment.com/webinars/social-media-security-risk-management-professionals" target="_blank">Click Here</a></strong></span></p></div>Crisis Management and Leadership Education Tutorials [Video]https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/crisis-management-and-leadership-education-tutorials-video2013-01-17T21:01:09.000Z2013-01-17T21:01:09.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#000080;"><strong>Crisis Management and Leadership Education Tutorials</strong></span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#000080;"><strong>[Video]</strong></span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="http://crisismanagement.tony-ridley.com/crisis-management-and-leadership-online-video-training" target="_blank"><img src="http://crisismanagement.tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Crisis-Management-and-Leadership-Training.Tony-Ridley.03-copy1.jpg?width=400" width="400" class="align-center" alt="Crisis-Management-and-Leadership-Training.Tony-Ridley.03-copy1.jpg?width=400" /></a></strong></p><p style="text-align:left;"><strong><a href="http://crisismanagement.tony-ridley.com/crisis-management-and-leadership-online-video-training" target="_blank">Click Here</a></strong></p><p>Exclusive, professional video training series includes over four and a half hours of content. Resulting from years of experience, writing, leading and managing crisis management teams, I have put together this unique training package covering all the essential elements of effective crisis leadership and management.</p><p>The video training includes:</p><div style="margin-left:2em;" class="custom Check1green"><ul><li>The fundamentals of crisis management</li><li>An introduction to the essential success factors for superior crisis management results</li><li>The destinations between crisis leadership and crisis management</li><li>Crisis communications</li><li>Roles and responsibilities of key appointments</li><li>Priority decision making</li><li>Briefings and guidance for crisis leaders</li><li>Information collection</li><li>Crisis management plans</li><li>Business continuity and reliance integration</li><li>Content publication</li><li>Open source intelligence</li><li>Goals and performance management</li><li>Metrics</li><li>Systems based approaches</li><li>Warning indicators and triggers for crisis management</li><li>Stakeholder analysis</li><li>Risk based decision making, and</li><li>Numerous tips, advice and direction on how to improve or construct the best crisis management strategy</li></ul></div><p><strong><a href="http://crisismanagement.tony-ridley.com/crisis-management-and-leadership-online-video-training" target="_blank">Click Here</a></strong></p><p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/b5IIGydqOEY?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe></p></div>Mathematical equation crashing bankshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/mathematical-equation-crashing-banks2012-02-13T05:30:00.000Z2012-02-13T05:30:00.000ZMartin Davieshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/MartinDavies92<div><p><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">An article in the Guardian today makes great claims that the Black-Scholes mathematical justification for trading options plunged the worlds banks into catastrophe.</span><span class="font-size-2"> </span><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Ummm, I fair this is a little bit of a fanatical overstatement but let's ponder on this for a moment.</span></p><p><span style="color:#3366ff;"><a href="http://quantogate.blogspot.com/2012/02/mathematical-equation-crashing-banks.html" target="_blank"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="color:#3366ff;">Click here to continue reading</span></font></a></span></p></div>Is "radio silence" the best strategy for UBS after trading debacle?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/is-radio-silence-the-best-strategy-for-ubs-after-trading-debacle2011-09-16T12:55:29.000Z2011-09-16T12:55:29.000ZRichard Mahonyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/RichardMahony<div><p>UBS has remained oddly silent since its brief <a href="http://www.ubs.com/1/e/media_overview/media_switzerland/releases.html?newsId=195122" target="_blank">press release</a> announcing a $2 billion loss from unauthorized trades in London. The announcement chopped some $5 billion from the bank’s market cap, and neither CEO Oswald Grübel nor any other senior executive has addressed the matter.</p><p>It’s instructive to compare UBS’s public response to that of other banks involved in similar situations.</p><p>When Jérôme Kerviel’s trades racked up losses of $7.2 billion for Société Générale, its CEO, Daniel Bouton, faced the cameras and the critics head-on. He appeared at a press conference to announce the loss, and issued a detailed letter explaining the trades and how they ultimately were discovered. Bouton, whose offer to resign was rejected by the board, voluntarily suspended his salary for six months.</p><p>Similarly, after Allied Irish Bank found itself relieved of $750 million as a result of John Rusnak’s currency trades, it’s CEO, Michael Buckley, issued a <a href="http://www.aib.ie/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=PressOffice/AIB_Press_Releas/aib_po_d_press_releases-0_08&cid=1009883772540&poSection=AR&poSubSection=paDA&position=notfirst&rank=top&month=02&year=2002" target="_blank">statement</a> and held a conference call for investors and media.</p><p>The silence from UBS could mean that the bank doesn’t yet know how the losses occurred and how they were concealed for so long. If true, it spells trouble for the bank’s executives and means the crisis is far from over.</p><p>Yesterday, I recommended <a href="http://mahonypartners.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/the-3-things-ubs-must-do/" target="_blank">three steps</a> for UBS to begin to put the crisis behind it.</p></div>Global Finance and Economy: a Hot Summer Indeedhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/global-finance-and-economy-a2011-07-02T20:19:39.000Z2011-07-02T20:19:39.000ZKristi Rohtsaluhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/KristiRohtsalu<div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:left;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">Are we seeing ghosts everywhere or is something ugly going on indeed? Take a look to some of the current debates, concerns and questions about Greece, US and China, and imagine how it all could play out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><b>Greece: Austerity measures and new bailout package</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">Last week, Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou won approval to his 78 billion-euro package of budget cuts and asset sales, key to receive the fifth instalment of 110 billion-euro bailout in 2010. This despite of the boiling public anger and an <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38901&Cr=austerity&Cr1">UN expert’s warning</a> that these austerity measures could violate human rights. Yet the country’s overall debt situation is not likely to improve as a result: a second rescue package for Greece of about the similar magnitude as the initial 110 billion euro bailout is already being considered.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">Several questions and concerns arise, e.g.:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* How long this game around Greece can continue? When and how will it end?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* Will or should the second bailout be classified as selective default by rating agencies given that private-sector is in fact forced to participate via a “voluntary” rollover of maturing Greece’s debt by banks?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* What risks the banks are taking when rolling over Greece’s debts? Do they have better alternatives? What are the implications to banks’ lending to private sector?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><b>US: Debt ceiling and QE3</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">As also pointed out by IMF in its <a href="http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2011/062011a.htm">Concluding Statement of the 2011 Article IV Mission to The United States of America</a> (20 June 2011), US public debt is on an unsustainable trajectory. In order to avoid default, the federal debt ceiling has to be raised once again (according to IMF, this has already happened more than 70 times over the past few decades). Meanwhile real economy is picking up very slowly if at all: housing market remains weak, unemployment stays high, credit supply conditions remain tight etc. To somehow (although temporarily) cope with the situation, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/28/news/economy/federal_reserve_purchases/">the Fed is set to buy USD 300bn more Treasuries</a>. Some say, QE3 has already started (see e.g. the post in <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/qe3-has-already-started">Zero Hedge</a>, 31 May 2011).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">In relation to the above, one could (for example) think about the following:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* The absurdity of the situation where just lifting up the debt ceiling means a top grade credit rating while not doing it would result in default grade</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* QE1 and QE2 ended up everywhere else than helping US real economy to recover. Where will go QE3?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* Are there any real possibilities for avoiding high inflation later on? Of course, Fed has at least some technical means for mopping up excess liquidity but can this be done given the likely consequences of reducing money supply?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><b>China: All at the same time</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">When taking a quick look to the latest news about China, it feels that the blow up is just around the corner. Just consider these headlines and excerpts:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“The speed at which China's local governments are taking on debt is "terrifying".”</i> (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-local-government-debt-2011-6">Business Insider</a>, 28 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“After years of housing prices gone wild, China’s property bubble is starting to deflate.”</i> (<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576367121835831168.html">Wall Street Journal</a>, 9 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“And legendary short seller, Jim Chanos, says China’s local government debt is worse than America’s subprime problem.”</i> (<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Daily-Reckoning/2011/0614/Which-is-worse-China-s-debt-problem-or-ours">The Christian Science Monitor</a>, 14 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“The official public debt of the central government was only 19% of GDP at the end of 2010. Adding the debts of local governments, the non-performing loans of the banks and other liabilities, such as central-bank bills, the public debt amounts to about 80% of GDP according to Andrew Batson and Janet Zhang of GaveKalDragonomics, a consultancy in Beijing.”</i> (The <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18775343">Economist</a>, 2 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“China: new lending sharply down”</i> (<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/06/13/china-loans-money-supply-growth-drop/#axzz1QwUI3KiE">Financial Times</a>, 13 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* <i>“The yield on Chinese bonds are inverting at an accelerating rate. This does not portend well for the Chinese economy, and this may have negative implications globally.”</i> (<a href="http://www.moneynews.com/Elias/barryelias-china-yuan-dollar/2011/06/24/id/401269#ixzz1QwXE7GgJ">Moneynews.com</a>, 24 June 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">Based on facts or just guesses, these expectations may very easily be self-fulfilling. According to the logic of finance, the real risks are extremely high too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">But that’s not all. China’s large forex reserves are not well diversified either. It is estimated that around two-thirds of the total USD 3.04 trillion is invested in US dollar-denominated assets and that US Treasury bills account for half of these assets. In addition, euro-denominated assets accounted for a large share of forex reserves -- up to 25 percent. (Source: <a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110606000118&cid=1502&MainCatID=15">Want ChinaTimes, 6 June 2011</a>) What if US rating will be downgraded or Greece will default? Note that if “money game” were fair game, both of these events would have happened already.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">Among others the above urges us to ask:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* What are the links between the above and the China’s current monetary policy?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* How China is planning to manage all of these risks and uncertainties at the same time? Which risks are actually manageable and which ones are not?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* What is more likely for China: soft landing and hard landing?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* What is China going to do with its foreign reserves?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">* Should we fear a serious conflict between China and US?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:small;">The above presents only a fraction of all the current global financial and economic challenges – a bare top of an iceberg. Vote into which topic we should bring the clarity first or add your own: <a href="http://blog.logicoffinance.com/p/propose-topic-vote-and-win.html">vote, support and win!</a> I feel that no matter how well educated and capable central bankers and policy makers may be, we cannot rely on them only. Our own ability to interpret the news is at least as important.</span></div></div></div>7 reasons why the Japan tsunami has created a much greater disaster than the initial earthquakehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/7-reasons-why-the-japan2011-03-27T08:34:39.000Z2011-03-27T08:34:39.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><p><strong>Introduction</strong></p><p>If you want to know why the Japan tsunami turned into a far greater disaster than the initial earthquake and learn the 7 main reasons for this calamity, then read on. In this article we will touch on the government, closed cultures, leadership vacuum, system failures and Japanese crisis management, timing and information practices.<a target="_blank" href="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Japan-tsunami.Crisis-Management.Tony-Ridley.jpg"><img class="align-right" width="300" src="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Japan-tsunami.Crisis-Management.Tony-Ridley-300x300.jpg?width=300" alt="Japan-tsunami.Crisis-Management.Tony-Ridley-300x300.jpg?width=300" /></a></p><p>By the end of this article you will have the information to act in a much more decisive manner during the next similar crisis or immediately review your crisis and continuity plans involving Japan.</p><p><strong>Government</strong></p><p>The Japanese government and political leadership has been in constant turmoil for the past few years, with regular scandals and changes. This constant change and lack of continuity has resulted in each successive party’s rebirth and having to learn “on the job” without a clear political vision. Lack of experience in power coupled with perpetual flux for all government employees and agencies results in limited growth, development and the absence of clear leadership. This is not the type of situation you want during great times of disaster but the current situation Japan has, on top of the natural calamity, and it has been a major contributor to the compounding problems and lack of appropriate action at all stages. This was both foreseeable and likely.</p><p>Many public utilities are privately owned and have enjoyed limited government oversight or interference. The government is all but powerless to correct the lack of oversight and accountability at this late stage and are dependent on the private companies for all the decision and action taking. For reasons mentioned further on, this is perfect storm of failure in the making.</p><p>Japanese governance is an extension of norms and culture, which have created this malaise.</p><p><strong>Culture</strong></p><p>Most will be aware that the Japanese culture and sense of community is very unique in many ways. However, with nearly 25% of the population over 65, growing generational gaps, history and habit of covering up the truth in order to save face, lack of leadership at all functional levels and a group culture of sufferance and stoic resolve in the face of adversity do not strengthen the county or business sectors capacity to plan, manage and respond to crisis. In weakens it.</p><p>Internationally, Japanese executives and companies are known for their lack of crisis management plans and decision making. The country and national businesses have enjoyed fantastic economic success and have never seen the need to change or evolve without the pressure of failure or the demand to innovate. This is significantly more so within the ranks of Japanese government agencies. Therefore, they have not embraced or implemented current competencies for crisis management as they have not seen the “need”.</p><p>Culture often determines the strengths and weaknesses of the planning process but it must be assessed objectively as culture is the one common element to all societies, locations and plans.</p><p><strong>Crisis Management Preparedness</strong></p><p>The evolution of crisis management and disaster prevention has been accelerated by the acknowledgment that while their may be “acts of god” there is much man can do to plan, manage and respond to such acts without a spiritual belief that one must simply accept ones’ fate. This is not the case with much of Japan’s executive leadership. Therefore they fail to plan for many natural disasters in an adequate and holistic manner. Most Japanese simply accept disaster, whether secular or religious.</p><p>One statement summed up the issue by stating “they had no crisis management because they were never ready for crisis”.</p><p>Most companies and foreigners in Japan have failed to understand or mitigate against this reality which has left them very vulnerable and greatly affected.</p><p>Despite the “first world” label applied to Japan, many parts of the country are still less advanced and from the perspective of a foreigner, signs, language, decision making and government services are still very exclusively “Japanese access” preferred. In time of disaster, access and benefit from any internal resource is further diminished.</p><p>I have said before, crisis leadership is always preferable to crisis management but an absence of leadership can be deadly.</p><p><strong>Leadership Vacuum</strong></p><p>Only the elderly and senior management are permitted to make decisions. This may work in a functioning communications and repetitive work environment but not in a dynamic crisis situation or natural calamity. Lack of communication and a vacuum of independent thought and decision making have compounded the event beyond it’s initial occurrence.</p><p>No person is to blame for a natural disaster but each and everyone affected or responsible will be judged on how they manage and respond to such events. Most have been found wanting.</p><p>Leaders need information to act. You can act in the absence of information but continuos limitations on information and its impact create even more chaos and disaster.</p><p><strong>Information Access and Release</strong></p><p>Nearly all Japanese businesses and government agencies are very protective of information even secretive, especially around unpleasant or embarrassing information. Cover ups, information filtering, trickle release, lies and lack of understanding play a role and have been demonstrated throughout.</p><p>No one received accurate and truthful information as to the state of the affected nuclear plants. Only hindsight will reveal just how wide spread the issue was but it was predictable and evident from the beginning that it would be managed in this way.</p><p>Again, cultural trends indicate those responsible would rather fail outright, apologies later, cry in public or just fade away than accept responsibility now, act now and share all the facts and truth about the situation from the onset of disaster.</p><p>All plans and response are dependent on supporting systems. Lose one, lose them all and you need an alternate response in order to be effective.</p><p><strong>Systems Failure</strong></p><p>All the best plans and considerations are inclusive of single and multiple system failures. Not in Japan. Little to no consideration has been given to a series of system failures such as communications, transport, access, health care, utilities and food supplies. This is painfully evident and compounded the issues while most have only discovered this lack of planning and preparation, after the fact.</p><p><strong>Timing</strong></p><p>Disasters and crisis seldom occur at a time of your choosing. Planning, training, rehearsals and response all need to be inclusive of the “worst possible time” concept. Weather has played a significant role in this calamity and it’s painfully evident that all supporting plans (as limited as we now know) clearly did not encompass the foreseeable and historical bad weather patterns experienced in Japan. Rain, hail, sleet and snow all have an impact on the response to an earthquake, fire, tsunami and flood. Sometimes positively but also negatively.</p><p>Here we have seen a lack of preparation, triggered at the worst possible time, creating the mess that has affected millions of citizens, residents, expatriates, companies and travellers.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>Japan and the Japanese people are not blame for this natural calamity but their culture and unique circumstances have compounded the response and increased suffering.</p><p>Any company or foreigner “caught out” by this phenomena has failed to localize their plans, management and response to crisis. These oversights have resulted in poor accountability for missing people, delayed decision making, failed plans, over confidence in government advice, diminished ownership/action by companies along with heightened risk to those affected.</p><p>Now that you understand the additional factors contributing to this particular calamity such as government, culture, timing, leadership, management, information and system failures you can immediately correct your errors or fix the flaws in your current plans.</p><p>Condolences to those affected by this recent tragedy but lack of planning and preparation is no excuse when faced with foreseeable and likely crisis, no matter the source.</p><p><a href="http://tony-ridley.com/">Tony Ridley</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://tony-ridley.com/2011/03/19/7-reasons-why-the-japan-tsunami-has-created-a-much-greater-disaster-than-the-initial-earthquake/">Tony Ridley's blog</a></p></div>Travel Risk Management: Are you ready for a crisis?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/travel-risk-management-are-you2011-03-11T20:27:58.000Z2011-03-11T20:27:58.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><h1><span class="font-size-7"><strong><span style="font-size:13px;">Managing Business Travel Risks and Crisis</span></strong></span></h1><h2>Introduction</h2><p>If you know that business travel is not without its risk and the potential for crisis, then you need to read this article.<a target="_blank" href="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/build_puzzle_bridge_pc_400_clr-300x182.png"><img class="align-right" width="300" src="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/build_puzzle_bridge_pc_400_clr-300x182.png?width=300" alt="build_puzzle_bridge_pc_400_clr-300x182.png?width=300" /></a></p><p><br />In this article we are going to talk about the management and containment of crisis as it relates to travellers and travel managers.<br />The objective of this article is to share with you the collective knowledge on managing crisis and significantly improve your ability to identify and manage a crisis but also improve your business travel efficiency.<br />The first thing we should cover, who is Tony Ridley?<br />Well I have directed and managed numerous critical events for companies such as the Bali bombings, Mumbai terror attacks, Sichuan quake and Thailand airport closure. I have multiple articles published on the subject of travel risk management and I’m a regular presenter on the issue.</p><p> </p><p>During this article I am going to discuss travel risk myths, crisis management, plans and options so you can immediately compare or improve your own travel risk management system for your travellers or travel management department.</p><p>Crisis by definition is something you didn’t have a plan for or something in which you are unprepared. Additionally, it can be a series of events that in concert create a crisis.</p><p>Events or issues that occur, to which you have a plan and strategy, is merely an incident.</p><h2>Crisis Management/Leadership</h2><p>The first thing is to clarify what is the difference between crisis management and leadership. More importantly, which one is the more important?<br />Crisis management relates to the response to event/s that threaten your business, travellers or travel activity. The event leads and you follow with plans, decisions and actions.<br />Crisis leadership, on the other hand, is more about getting ahead of the events and issues to prevent, management and even contain the impact to your business or business travel activities. While management is a portion of the leadership demand, your actions and involvement lead the outcomes rather than a more passive wait and act approach with pure crisis management.<br />Crisis leadership is the less practiced of the two, but the most significant in terms of results and reduction in risk and impact.<br />If you take nothing else away from this session, it should be that your focus should always be on Crisis Leadership, not crisis management.</p><p><br /><span class="font-size-6"><strong>Myths</strong></span></p><p><br />There are many myths and half-truths about crisis, disruption and threats within the travel management sector. Much of this misinformation has originated from travellers themselves, media, travel managers, friends and family or so called “experts”.</p><p><br />For example, many travellers and planners are focused on terrorism. The reality is, you have a very, very small chance of being exposed or affected directly by a terrorist act. It doesn’t mean you should discount it as a threat altogether but it shouldn’t dominate your plans or processes if not a proportional threat to you and your travellers. Conversely, almost everyone overlooks motor vehicle accidents. Yet, they happen far more frequently, can have devastating affect on travellers and are the least common plan contained within company travel management departments.</p><p><br />Travellers and travel managers must be prepared, educated and have supporting plans for any event that has the potential to delay, disrupt or harm the traveller or the business.<br />The most common events include:</p><ul><li>Motor vehicle accidents</li><li>Airline delays or cancellations</li><li>Airport closures or disruptions</li><li>Transport delays</li><li>Bad weather</li><li>Sickness and illness</li><li>Petty crimes</li><li>Hotel fires</li><li>Political disputes</li><li>Demonstrations and gatherings</li></ul><p><strong>Motor vehicle accidents</strong> within your own country can be stressful and dangerous but on an overseas business trip they can be 100 times more challenging and dangerous. Consider language, local authorities, first responder, standard of healthcare, families and support in your plans and initial response.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Airline delays and cancelations.</strong> They happen all the time but they are not just an administrative response. You may need to consider safety, transport, quarantines, security threats, government response and wide spread suspension of services to overcome the issue and maintain safety of your travellers.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Airport closures or disruptions</strong>. Failed systems, electrical problems, threats, weather, construction and so on can prevent you even getting to your flight. Consider the impact this has on your plans and how your traveller will need to possibly extend stay, move to alternate airport or find accommodation.<br />All other <strong>transport delays and disruptions</strong> can create crisis when everyone no longer has access to trains, buses, key roads or even water transport. Have a plan and add it to your immediate decision making process.</p><p> </p><p>2010 and the commencement of 2011 has seen travel of all kind affected by <strong>natural disasters and weather</strong>. Weather and natural forces have and always will impact travellers. It does and will continue to occur. It is highly concerning how unprepared travellers and companies are for volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, earthquakes and general bad weather.</p><p><br /><strong>People</strong> get sick or feel unwell all the time. This is compounded significantly when travelling. Standard of care, language, access, cost, complications, choice and numerous other location based concerns will determine just how at risk your traveller will be. A single, “one-size-fits-all” plan or solution will fail and you need to be aware of these issues immediately with the onset of an affected traveller.</p><p><br /><strong>Crimes</strong> are a reality of any city in the world. However, travellers seldom know the risks and may be preyed upon by thieves and criminals. The loss of phones, money, and other items may seem less likely to constitute a crisis but when overseas, injured or not able to speak the local language, all these simple events can create a major concern for your business travellers. This can be amplified if you have a senior executive or a group of executives affected.</p><p><br /><strong>Hotel fires</strong> and emergencies are more common than most people think. The immediate threat to an individual is fairly obvious but the impact that the lack of accommodation choices can create from the temporary or permanent closure of a hotel is a much bigger concern. This was graphically displayed during the Mumbai terror attacks (as extra ordinary as the event was) when most of the best/preferred hotels were now unavailable in a key part of the city. This removed thousands of rooms for business travellers and forced many to cancel or significantly alter travel plans just because there were a lack of suitable accommodation options, whether affected by the events or not.</p><p><br />Any event that alters the <strong>political stability</strong> of a location or region or results in thousands of people out on the streets constitutes a risk to your business travel plans and travellers. They can happen spontaneously or take time to develop. The immediate dangers and the ongoing disruption can have a major impact on your business or traveller. Again, plans, preparation and thought to these issues will greatly reduce the impact and improve your business too.</p><p><br />Now that we have removed the most common misconceptions, let’s focus on the management and containment of a crisis.</p><h2><strong>Crisis management</strong></h2><p>The key to successful crisis management is planning, training, plans, decision-making and adaptability.</p><h2>Planning</h2><p>Given the issues previously covered, you now have a better insight into how and why planning is important to remove the more emotive issues from the realities of real business threats and events.</p><p><br />Planning needs to include multiple departments and perspectives to be truly effective. One of the greatest weaknesses I see regularly is that departments continue to manage the risk of travel through multiple departments with multiple plans. The input and plan needs to be unified. Depending on the company, it may include travel managers, security, HR, finance, marketing, C-suite and operations.</p><p><br />All plans need to be continuously updated, location specific, aide in the decision-making process and modular enough have elements extracted quickly and effectively.</p><p><br />Modern, effective plans embrace technology. Rapid, efficient access to information, along with running updates is the hallmarks of a modern sustainable plan, regardless of the size of the issue or the company.</p><h2>Training</h2><p>No plan is effective without training and rehearsal. Training, whether through simulations, drills or live, full-scale exercises are vital to the success of any crisis situation. Such sessions don’t need to be boring or overly complicated but must include travel managers and planners along with the more common crisis and emergency managers.</p><p><br />Increasingly, training is becoming a mandatory requirement for key positions and roles. It can be linked to internal HR processes but must support the business objectives and measurable on how it reduces the risk to people, business, brand and travel demands.</p><p><br />While the plan creates the framework for crisis decision-making, teams can learn a lot from training on how and when to adapt their plans. How the team interacts, strength, weakness, leaders, followers, limitations, tools and many more planned and surprise outcomes are possible with effective training.</p><h2>Adaptations</h2><p>No plan will completely script all the events, issues and options available for every plausible travel delay, disruption or crisis. You need to be able to adapt and evolve from the original plan and intention. This can only be achieved with planning, plans and training.</p><h2>Solutions</h2><p>So what do I need in my plan? Here is the best travel risk management content for your plan:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Objective(the single most important part of any travel policy)</li><li>References</li><li>Scope</li><li>Legal</li><li>Insurance</li><li>Finance</li><li>Reimbursements</li><li>Limits</li><li>Priority/precedence</li><li>Management Authority/ies</li><li>Situations</li><li>Procedure will likely cover:</li><li>Planning Resources</li><li>Tools</li><li>Authority</li><li>Executive</li><li>Decision making</li><li>Limits</li><li>Budgets</li><li>Training</li><li>Compliance</li><li>Pre-trip admin</li><li>Providers</li><li>Booking</li><li>Accommodation</li><li>Airlines</li><li>Ground Transport</li><li>Safety and Security</li><li>Health and wellness</li><li>Emergency</li><li>SOP/Actions on</li><li>Insurance</li><li>Travel Monitoring /tracking</li><li>Reporting</li><li>HR</li><li>Entitlements</li><li>Threat/risk levels</li><li>Shelter in Place</li><li>Relocations/evacuations</li><li>Management Authority Review</li><li>Don’t forget your risk assessment will need to include the key elements:</li><li>Traveller Location</li><li>Activity</li><li>Support/Resources</li><li>Response</li></ul><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>There you have it. Now you know what is required, how do you rate your current plans and preparedness?<br />You now have the most relevant issues and areas to focus upon that will reduce or contain the majority of incidents you may face your travellers will be safer, your business more profitable and your costs will be contained by reducing your exposure to expensive crisis events.</p><p><br />We have debunked popular travel threat myths, identified the difference between crisis management and leadership, outlined plans and options so you can immediately compare or improve your own travel risk management system for your travellers or travel management department.<br />Review your plans and make the immediate improvements.</p><p><br />You will know when you have an effective crisis management system for your travel risk management strategy when you have little to no crisis. You may have numerous events or incidents but you have a plan, you’re prepared and your decision making is fast and consistent. If not, you have failed and you will run from crisis to crisis on a regular basis.</p><a target="_blank" href="http://tony-ridley.com/">Tony Ridley</a></div>Crisis Leadership is better than Crisis Managementhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/crisis-leadership-is-better2011-02-20T22:00:00.000Z2011-02-20T22:00:00.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><h1>The Golden Hour and the First 24 Hours!</h1><p>In the vast majority of cases, regardless of the duration, the end success or successful resolution to a crisis is determined by the initial actions in the first 24 hours. Often referred to as the “Golden Hour” in emergency medicine, the initial hour of the first 24 hours is the foundation upon which the primary phase is predicated. The events, information and decision making process during these two phases will place both individuals and multi national corporations upon a path that will over time will provide less opportunity for change and influence than at this juncture.</p><p> </p><p>While the incidents and information injects, whether actively or passively collected, may change, the fundamental decision making methodology will remain relatively constant due to the leader or crisis management teams experience, skills and training. It is for this reason that the greatest emphasis due to the potential outcomes remains the burden of those in a position to determine the outcomes.<a href="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gold_key_pc_400_clr.png"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1553" title="Crisis Leadership-The Key to Success" src="http://tony-ridley.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gold_key_pc_400_clr-132x300.png" width="132" height="300" alt="gold_key_pc_400_clr-132x300.png" /></a></p><p>In broad terms, individual entities or multi-dimensional companies are classified into two categories when managing a crisis or significant event. The first of those categories is that of the Responder who is largely driven by the events and is forced to react to each and every information inject or demand due to the absence of preparation and planning joined with the lack or limitation on resources. The second of these two categories, and the most desired, is that to the Implementer who is characterized by the ability to activate resources and follow a pre-prepared and trained plan with the support of an array of supporting stakeholders, constructed responses and proactively formulated decision making guidelines that reduce the time from event to response.</p><p> </p><p>The Implementer would typically be equally experienced as they are trained with significantly more emphasis on the latter. The primary and secondary phases of the first 24 hours will see the Responder desperately attempting to understand the situation, often with limited redundancy and support, while trying to time appropriate responses and activation of resources with little understanding of the strategic goals or longer term effects of these crucial decisions. This will be further exacerbated by the lack of experience or knowledge on the time taken to implement plans and the activation of vital resources.</p><p> </p><p>In contrast, the Responder during the primary and secondary phases will be aligning support plans and stakeholders with preferred outcomes and anticipating events to potentially mitigate escalation of the situation or becoming reactionary focused. Typically the Implementer will seek to maintain a rapid escalation of support elements and appropriate resources with the option to then gradually deescalate or stand-down a range of options appropriate to the incident once they have sufficient control of information that the situation does not warrant the engagement of such resources or services.</p><p> </p><p>History and more contemporary times are littered with examples whereby Government Leaders, Military Commanders, Corporate Leaders, Community Leaders and the like have failed to identify the impact of the events or incidents that have ultimately lead to an apparent disproportional result. Their failure or lack of appropriate response, relative to the potential impact and not necessarily the current information or perception, has lead to dire strategic consequences. As a result, it is these initial tactile decisions and responses that can in all likelihood determine the eventual outcome, favorable or otherwise.</p><p> </p><p>The Golden Hour in medical terms is the most crucial time in which to both stabilize a patient suffering from significant injury or illness and to determine the best course of action in order to provide them with the most appropriate form of medical care supported by adequate resources. This decision making process is often done in remote locations, at the scene of an accident or within the emergency rooms of the nearest treatment facility. While this reference is centered more towards an individual or groups affected by such events the process and outcomes are indicative of the interaction it has with all the stakeholders affected and the commonalities faced by business in general.</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, the affected parties may well be key elements to an organization or business that is dependant upon their contribution and will undoubtedly respond with all available resource for both the preservation of life and the continuity of business. Secondly, the process for escalation and decision making, including the activation of services and resources, will be made in the absence of a technical expert such as a doctor. As is the case with almost all business crisis in the initial stages. Even then, the measure to which any trained and experienced expert pertaining to crisis management will be limited to a large degree by the actions of the first responders and their support resources.</p><p> </p><p>Tactile and spontaneous decisions made in the immediate stages of a developing incident that could lead to a crisis or disaster event have strategic consequences. These consequences may not affect an immediate impact but overtime could overshadow the incident itself. For instance, the decision to act in the absence of consultation or verification could result in legal, compliance, ethical, morale, code of conduct, medical or criminal violations to which the parent organization will be responsible, or held to account, for the actions of one or more responders. Irrespective of the fact that the decision at the time may have in fact saved lives, prevented further disasters or simply maintained business continuity the strategic consequence could be just the opposite.</p><p> </p><p>While it is neither effective nor possible to script every potential incident and provide policy and processes to support such events, especially in the event of crisis, it can go a long way to mitigate many of the aforementioned issues and negative impacts. Even if during the post incident autopsy it is confirmed that a sound and consistent decision making process was employed with an appropriate degree of accountability and supported resources but ended in a less than favorable outcome, it will hold the organization and the individuals in far greater stead to know they did their utmost at the time but the situation was not recoverable despite best efforts and planning than to have made spontaneous decisions and decrees on the fly.</p><p> </p><p>Enabling first responders, supervisors and crisis management elements to draw upon the collective knowledge of their peers and industry experts, with pretreated plans, budgets and designated resources appropriate to the risk and potential impact will significantly reduce the time from incident to response and prove to be a better overall strategy for the management of limited and significant crisis events. These plans should be both comprehensive and accessible to those that require access it but also simplified for immediate reference and implementation. This is equally applicable to any support services or resources that may be required in the event of particular incidents. Should partial or full responsibility of supporting this process be apportioned to external agencies or third party providers then they in turn should be equally if not more prepared for their roles and responsibilities. Sadly, all this amounts to nothing if the plan is not widely disseminated, trained and rehearsed with a degree of regularity to account for changing circumstances and new talent and roles.</p><p> </p><p>While crisis management is often discussed and held up as the benchmark of preparedness and effectiveness, this is essentially still the realm of the Responder. In order to manage a crisis there is a disproportionate amount of time spent waiting for information injects, set circumstances, triggers and qualifying actions before implementing a plan that is known to be in existence and its results determined by the measure of its application. Crisis leadership is the true virtue of the Implementer. By proactively assessing events and mobilizing resources and the means in which to act before the situation demands, reduces the timeline of impact and in most cases reduces the overall affect the event/s may have on an organization and its personnel. It is often a far more cost effective application of resources also.</p><p> </p><p>In the modern and developing business world there is simply more information and access to information than ever before. While this has lead to many efficiencies and advancements it has not advanced the capacity or effectiveness of crisis management elements at a comparable rate. If this were the case we would incur little to no crisis events and very incidents affecting organization and their personnel would ever need be reported in the media. Effective crisis leadership is learned by training and exposure with sufficient support services and resources. The critical time in which to apply this talent however remains the same, the Golden Hour and the first 24 hours. No amount of preparation and weighty plans will resolve undesirable events in the advanced stages as a direct result of poor leadership and management in the primary phases. It is therefore of paramount importance adequate depth, training and resourcing be focused on this pivotal stage.</p></div>Can you Risk your reputation ?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/can-you-risk-your-reputation2010-10-22T11:56:40.000Z2010-10-22T11:56:40.000ZNagesh Bharadwajhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/NageshBharadwaj<div><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-104" title="reputation" src="http://www.risk.indigostripes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/reputation.jpg" alt="reputation" width="225" height="225" /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><b>Executive Summary: Sometimes your reputation in the industry is everything for you. Reputation is sacrosanct and hence any risk to the reputation of the company is considered high</b></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">I worked at Sony for many years. For a company such as Sony, the brand reputation is sacrosanct. Which means any incident or event which will bring bad name to the company will be considered a “high” risk event. This is much more accentuated because the company is Japanese .</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">For example a pharma company makes a mistake with its formulations or it gets contaminated, then it has very high risk of reputation. This is due to the nature of the product, where lives can be at stake, the consumer will not again buy their product due to lack of trust. Add to this, any liabilities they have to pay for damages and also regulatory punishments. On the other hand a company making toilet bowls may have lesser reputation risk when compared to the pharma company. Parryware will have to fix the batch of products and perhaps recall the faulty batch and not have worry of loss of life due to non perfomance.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">The degree of reputation risk is also a cultural phenemenon where some societies attaching a huge importance to it. “Loss of face” is considered a huge loss for Japanese where it may be taken lightly in other cultures.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">Sometimes mistakes do happen and how do you handle when mistakes happen at large companies and large brands ?</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">Have a look at Johnson&Johnson (J&J) on how they handled a handled a significant crisis. In 1982 J&Js Tylenol medication commanded a market share of 35 percent and it accounted for 15 percent of company profits. A pretty huge number for one product and for J&J which has several products.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">In 1986, a individual managed to lace J&Js tylenol with cyanide and about 7 people were killed after consumption. Word got out that it is due J&Js tylenol. Even though J&J was not directly responsible for the deaths it was coping most of the blame.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">Hearing the news, the stock market responded and the market cap of the company fell by about 1 billion dollars. In the same situation other companies may have responded pretty defensively. But not J&J.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">J&J bit the bullet and took the sour pill (pardon the pun). It ordered *all* the Tylenol medicines off the shell. This is not only in the state affected but all the states in the US. It went to destroy all these medicines with a huge loss to the company. Also it went to prevent future incidents by designing a tamper proof medicine dispenser. By these actions it became a champion of customer cause.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">The good will resulted in J&J capturing back 70 percent of market share loss pretty immediately. It was reported that many customers converted to J&J tylenol who were using other pain killers.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">Now this case has become a shining piece of crisis management for other companies to benchmark.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">What value do you put for reputation at your company ? Can you put a number on it ? How would you go about determining a number ? How would you respond to significant crisis ? Do you have a plan.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;">Appreciate your comments.</span></p></div>Why You Should Plan for Crises Before They Happen!https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/why-you-should-plan-for-crises2010-10-04T17:51:53.000Z2010-10-04T17:51:53.000ZDeon Binnemanhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/DeonBinneman<div><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.8em;padding:0px;border-width:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:12px;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;">What is <strong style="font-weight:bold;">the objective in any crisis?</strong><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.8em;padding:0px;border-width:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:12px;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;">It is <strong style="font-weight:bold;">to maintain company credibility and reputation</strong>, and create the perception that as an organization you are doing everything humanely to act in the positive regard to all stakeholders.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.8em;padding:0px;border-width:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:12px;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;">If I had the opportunity to address a Board of Directors about the need for adequate crisis response planning and emergency preparation, there are <strong style="font-weight:bold;">only five points</strong> we would discuss, and the discussion would take just a few minutes.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.8em;padding:0px;border-width:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:12px;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;">They are: Read more:<a href="http://deonbinneman.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/why-you-should-plan-for-crises-before-they-happen/">http://deonbinneman.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/why-you-should-plan-for-crises-before-they-happen/</a></p><br /></div>Alistair Darling: RBS was 'a couple of hours' from collapsehttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/alistair-darling-rbs-was-a2010-08-22T12:30:00.000Z2010-08-22T12:30:00.000ZBoris Agranovichhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/BorisAgranovich<div><div><p style="margin-top:8px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:10px;padding-left:0px;font-size:.9em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(70,70,70);font-family:verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;border-collapse:collapse;line-height:18px;">Shadow chancellor Alistair Darling has described how RBS was "a couple of hours" from collapse at the peak of the financial crisis.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(70,70,70);font-family:verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;border-collapse:collapse;line-height:18px;">Speaking to Today presenter James Naughtie, he described a "frenzied conversation" with a senior RBS executive, asking him "what are you going to do?"</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:8px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:10px;padding-left:0px;font-size:.9em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(70,70,70);font-family:verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;border-collapse:collapse;line-height:18px;">"Happily we did have a plan, and we stopped the bank from closing," he said.</span></p>
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<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8913000/8913921.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8913000/8913921.stm</a></div>The Law of the Few: World Class Corporate Crisis and Communications Teamshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/the-law-of-the-few-world-class2010-08-01T09:32:58.000Z2010-08-01T09:32:58.000ZTony Ridleyhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/TonyRidley<div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Many companies navigate the routine complexity of business with adequate or acceptable managem</span></p><div id="attachment_141" class="wp-caption alignright" style="float:right;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:10px;margin-left:10px;background-color:rgb(245,245,245);text-align:center;padding-top:7px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:7px;padding-left:2px;border-top-width:1px;border-right-width:1px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-left-width:1px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:solid;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-right-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-bottom-color:rgb(228,228,228);border-left-color:rgb(228,228,228);width:266px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><a href="http://tonyridley.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/connected-hands.png" style="color:rgb(0,141,207);text-decoration:none;"><img class="size-medium wp-image-141" title="Team Sport" src="http://tonyridley.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/connected-hands.png?w=256&h=300" alt="Team Sport" width="256" height="300" style="border-top-style:none;border-right-style:none;border-bottom-style:none;border-left-style:none;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;" /></a></span><p class="wp-caption-text" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:5px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;line-height:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Team Sport</span></p></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">ent, however it is the truly stellar company/s that excel not only on a routine basis but especially in times of crisis. It is select skills, experience and traits that are able to applied during times of critical decision-making that separate them from the herd. Specific skills and attributes are not something that can be learnt in the minutes and seconds required in order to apply to a critical decision making process but are acquired and developed over many years and supported by advanced processes and tools.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">To understand the best-in-class for corporate crisis management and decision-making we need to consider a number of things. Given that the timeliness of response is often predicated on how little time is wasted on logistical or bureaucratic processes before getting to a point of action, therefore companies with existing policy and procedure that is both rehearsed and updated, put themselves in the top 10 to 20% immediately. This element is certainly not a significant contributor to their success our outcome. Second, the quality of information on which decision-makers and leaders are basing their actions upon. This information alone does not comes from traditional sources such as television and paper it increasingly is inclusive of social media. The voices of many, albeit nonofficial, can have a significant impact on the outcome of the overall damage/survivability of an incident faced by a company.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">The best-in-class companies not only acknowledge social media but have means of tapping into influencing and monitoring all social media channels as required, not just in times of crisis but on a routine basis. Lastly and most significantly it’s the character of the individuals that fill the functions within a crisis or communications plan. It’s this area will look in more depth to determine the requirements attributes and success factors as crisis management is seldom the catalyst for success or failure but that of crisis leadership.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">In Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking book <em>The Tipping Point</em> he mentions three significant class of character that are an important influence on social trends and epidemics. These three main character traits are also vital if not pivotal in the success of corporate communications and crisis response. Companies that lack or fail to identify and leverage from these key character and personality traits fall far behind the best of class and most innovative companies. These character traits and abilities are not governed by job title position or function they are skills possessed within a person and therefore should be leveraged in accordance with the skills to the desired outcome rather than relying on a predefined job title or function within the company. These three character traits are 1. Connectors. 2. Mavens and 3. Persuaders. In very rare instances one or more of these skill sets may be founded in a single person but any one person shouldn’t be relied upon in adding depth to any team, which is always sound practice.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">What makes someone a connector? The first–and most obvious–criteria is that connectors know a lot of people. They are kinds of people who know everyone</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">No great team has all the solutions nor knows all of the information, however is vitally important that the team have access to an individual or group of individuals that can connect to all the known and possible resources in a short-as-possible time period. Connectors as such are fantastic networkers with not only huge personal networks but also plug into other complementary networkers or fellow connectors that maybe industry, technical, media or stakeholder orientated. They can aide immensely in benchmarking or calibrating the sentiment of particular decisions/actions or even the most appropriate channel to make sure that their message is heard clear and concisely with the required outcome.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Every company should have at least one connector in a crisis or communications team or one that can be called upon quickly and effectively. It should be painfully evident this is not the type of skill or network that is built up overnight and therefore can’t be expected to be turned on by the flick of a switch; it may take years if not decades to develop and refine.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Second of the three kinds of people who control the work of mouth epidemics are a Maven. The word Maven comes from Yiddish, and it means one who accumulates knowledge</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Mavens are active if not and borderline fanatics in their collection of information relative to a specific discipline or social scenario. Once again it’s essential that corporate decision-makers and crisis management teams include such knowledge collectors. Some companies may have them within their own organic structure or call upon them as part of their service providers or trusted advisors, in some instances even board members. Mavens may manifest in many shapes, forms, gender and age but they are very quickly identifiable by their sheer depth of knowledge and cross-referencing ability to join problems with solutions. A single conversation with an effective Maven may save corporate decision-makers hours if not weeks of procrastination and circular discussions.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Mavens are teachers, Connectors are conduits but neither may be Persuaders and the reality is that some people are actually going to have to be persuaded to do something, this is the role of the persuader. A Persuader is not a snake-oil salesman, although many very effective salesmen and communicators are Persuaders. Persuaders are able to influence through their tone of voice, their physical appearance, their social observations, their empathy towards listeners or just in the way and manner they use all of the skills to communicate their particular message. Many famous politicians, while drawing criticism for their lack of knowledge and other skills, have been exceptional persuaders. Not advocating the requirement for “empty vessels” but persuaders have a rare and unique talent to be able to communicate and influence people to do something, that something being consistent with your objectives. It is a very dangerous process to use any of the identified skills and characteristics in the roles in which they’re not suited, in particular the use of a persuader in a lesser role or not that of an influencer.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;">Many can now probably identify these key character traits and how successful they have been in routine and critical environments. However, it should be of major concern if you can not identify these traits within your own corporate crisis and communications team. Additionally if you have a total absence of any-and-all of the skill sets within your corporate crisis and communications team. You may survive the day to day routine rigors of business but survivability rate when exposed to critical incidences without these key elements is very poor. Even worse are those that assume that job titles within the company or even gender have imparted these skills upon each and every one of their senior executives is a gross oversight. The question remains can you identify these assets or can you contact them on your worst day? Your survival may very well depend on it one day.</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><sup>1</sup> The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell chapter 1–The three rules of epidemics, page 38</span></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;"><sup>2</sup> The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell chapter 1–The three rules of epidemics, page 60</span></p></div>