Thoughts About Sandy with a Katrina Twist

So we are moments away from Hurricane Sandy making landfall in Cape May, NJ and I cannot help but be reminded of Katrina. That disaster sits in all of our minds, but it was especially important to me as my first ever response to a true Type I Catastrophic incident.  I am not recollecting that time in 2005 because of comparisons of NOLA and NYC or because of the storm of the century titling’s but because I can’t help but wonder if we have learned from the many lessons Katrina taught us.  

Now, I am not calling to question government response because I have a tremendous amount of respect of Craig Fugate and his team.  I am concerned by those that did not heed the warnings of true experts that did not evacuate or take the appropriate actions.  James Lee Witt did a good job of placing the focus on the individual to prepare for disasters and Craig Fugate has returned to that mantra.  I am just not sure if it has worked.

As an emergency manager it is a struggle to convince individuals to invest the time and resources to prepare.  People truly believe that it will not happen to them.  Katrina served as a wake-up call for our nation but the blessing that was a problem in disguise was that we have not had a catastrophic incident since.  The nation has fallen back asleep and it looks like Sandy is our new wake-up call. 

My thoughts and prayers are with those that are in the path of Sandy and my colleagues that will serve them.   I hope Sandy will silence the critics that want to eliminate disaster response funding or those that think their local emergency manager is nicety not a necessity.

I would love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment.

An Emergency Manager's Impression of China

If you are like me, you have heard a lot about China in the news lately in the political discourse or the production of hot new tech items like the iPhone 5. It got me thinking about my immersion trip to China a few years ago and what would happen if I was doing business in Asia.  Ok, I know this seems like a bit of non sequitir when compared to my normal posts but hang on, there is a connection.

The media mostly focus on China’s manufacturing and how it affects the jobs front but in all actuality my impression of China was an area wanting for partnership and further development.   My time in China was just days after the Sichuan Earthquake where over 69,000 individuals perished and I arrived a day before the 3 day period of mourning.  I saw country’s population that had a similar response to US Citizens’ response to Katrina.  The compassion and the desire for response is no different.  The citizenry and government want to rapidly improve it’s relatively young governmental Emergency Management program and be a resource to do good works rather than nation that is perceived is a victim.

One of my biggest take-aways from my time in China is how well the emergency manager’s mindset lends itself to Chinese business and culture. A good emergency manager knows the importance of building relationships and will dedicate time to developing those relationships.  In Asia in general, the development of a relationship is a key investment in developing business and it is more than just simple networking.  An entity’s success in China can very easily be tied to how it maintains relationships.

If you are interested in work in China or Asia in general I would take a few minutes to check out US AID, they have some cool humanitarian missions throughout Asia.

Do you have a comment or thought about EM oversees?  Lets here it, please leave me a comment I would love to discuss.

PS- I did get to do some touristy stuff while I was there:

The Great Wall of China

The Summer Palace

A Debate Can Teach Us Something....

During last night’s Presidential Debate I realized that I was not watching the debate as a voter but as an Emergency Manager and Crisis Communicator.  (In all actuality debates rarely help me decide).  I realized that a debate, albeit good or bad, can teach us a lot about how to communicate during high stress events.  

Here are a few things to take away.

• If you cannot make a point in two minutes or less you are already behind.

The structure of the presidential debates limits answers to two minutes, and the candidates have to set-up and sell their respective messages in that 2 minutes of their 90 minute debate.  When you think about the rest of us, 2-3 minutes is the average length of time of an average segment on the local news.  When designing your communication that goes out through local media make sure you can make your point in less than 2-3 minutes that way it fits into a nice neat segment.

• If you find yourself going back to re-explain a point or clarify you didn’t make a point.

This actually applies to when you review your performance.  If possible it is always good to constructively review (not obsess over) your actions / performance.  If you notice that you had to re-explain yourself you message was not concise and to the point.

• The sound bite is king.

No matter how great you did in your debate or interview if there was one juicy sound bite it has the potential to resonate and dominate your message regardless of whether or not it was message.   To mitigate the risk of a negative sound bite formulate your message as much as possible and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.   Now some would argue that you couldn’t rehearse enough but sometimes coming off too scripted can hurt too.

So if you are like me and are a little sick of all the politics and still feel compelled to watch the debates next watch through the lens of an emergency manager or crisis communicator.   If you are looking for a good analysis of last night’s debate through the eyes of a media trainer let me recommend Brad Phillips Blog – Mr Media Training .

If you other suggestions or tips feel free to leave them in the comments.