Vol 727 – Leadership in Times of Crisis: 7 Skills to Manage the Crisis

March 19, 2026

Successful crisis management doesn’t just happen by accident. Being ready to meet the moment requires two things from all of us:

1. Those managing a crisis must always be in a constant state of readiness, as close to instantaneous as possible. Think in terms of “instant-on.”
2. Have a wide range of contingencies at your disposal so you are prepared for many possibilities.

Author and crisis management expert Regina Phelps outlines seven essential skills required to manage a crisis.

Vol 726 – The Supply Chain Threat You May Not Have Seen Coming

March 5, 2026

A key challenge for supply chain organizations is to anticipate, prepare for, and mitigate risks to a company’s operations and business continuity. Many organizations focus their attention on “traditional” disruptions like supplier failures, material and inventory shortages, and natural and human-caused disasters. Inadequate electric power may not be high on their priority list—if it is included at all—because this ubiquitous resource is often taken for granted. Such complacency could prove to be a costly mistake.

MIT professor Yossi Sheffi warns that power-hungry data centers and other risks threaten supply chains’ access to reliable electric energy.

Vol 725 – If I Had One Day to Set Up Crisis Management, This Is How I’d Spend It

February 19, 2026

Standards, frameworks, and templates provide a shared language for crisis management. They align expectations and create consistency across organizations. The risk is not in using them, but in optimizing the document instead of the work that should come first.

A crisis plan only becomes valuable once professionals have aligned on how they think, decide and act under pressure. The crisis plan must capture that thinking and should never replace it.

Patrick Lechner lays a foundation for managing those events that are often unclear and evolving.

Vol 724 – Want A Resilient Future? Take A Moment To Learn From The Past

February 5, 2026

I have known and worked with Regina Phelps for more than 35 years. Not only is she a treasured friend, she is a highly respected colleague. Her blogs have been consistent reader favorites. Many of you already know Regina — as an industry rockstar whose insights are meaty and practical with clear-cut takeaways.

Regina loves digging into case studies and histories of past disasters. She believes there are many things we can learn from the past – we just need to pay attention and then act to change our plans and/or our behavior.

Vol 723 – Business Continuity Theater: A Six-part Series

January 23, 2026

There is no shortage of guidance on how to “do” Business Continuity well. Between ISO 22301, the BCI Good Practice Guidelines, and decades of collective experience, we know what good looks like. Leadership accountability is clear. Strategic alignment is expected. Exercising and validation are built into the frameworks. And yet, the same pattern keeps repeating.

This series by resilience professional Laura Jury starts with a simple observation: the gap in BC has never been technical — it is human. Her series, Business Continuity Theater explores why well-intentioned organizations keep reproducing the same weaknesses, even when they “know better”.

Vol 722 – When Cell Networks Fail, This Hidden Feature Can Keep You Connected

December 4, 2025

In an always-connected world, our phones have become our personal command centers. During disasters, major events, or infrastructure failures, the one tool we count on most, our cellular connection can suddenly become unreliable or unavailable. However, there is a lifeline you are not likely using.

Seasoned communications veteran, Jim Gledhill, tells us that there is a simple, no-cost feature built into every modern smartphone that dramatically increases your ability to stay reachable: Wi-Fi Calling. Most people don’t use it, few understand it, and almost no one realizes how powerful it can be in a crisis.

Vol 721 – How Digital Twins Reduce Risks of Supply Chain Disruptions

November 20, 2025

Professionals in business continuity, cybersecurity and crisis management face the challenge of maintaining smooth supply chain operations amid constant disruptions, from extreme weather to cyber incidents and geopolitical events. A “digital twin” — a real-time virtual replica of a physical system — provides a clear way to see operations, test scenarios and anticipate potential problems before they occur.

By applying digital twins, organizations can enhance their resilience, mitigate risks and respond more effectively to unexpected challenges. Zac Amos shares five practical techniques for implementing supply-chain digital twins to achieve these goals.

Vol 720 – A Century of Resilience: Lessons from My Father’s 100 Years

November 6, 2025

This week, I’m stepping briefly away from technical sessions and trend analysis to reflect on something more foundational — the human side of resilience. This week, my father, Jack Gannon, turned 100 years old. A century of life, leadership, grit, and grace. And as I celebrate this extraordinary milestone, I’m reminded that my first and most enduring education in risk and resilience didn’t come from books, certifications, or conferences — it came from him.

In our field, we focus on business continuity, risk strategy, and crisis preparedness. But at the heart of it, resilience is personal before it is organizational. It begins with character. When my dad was 93 years old, he wrote his autobiography: Tell It Like It Was. Tell It Like It Is. He shares 10 pieces of advice for the next generation.

Vol 719 – 8 Security Gaps Increasing Warehouse Burglary Risks

October 16, 2025

Warehouse burglaries are increasing as organized criminals become more strategic in targeting facilities with valuable goods and sensitive data. According to eCam.com warehouse crimes tend to be big. USC Annenberg Media reports on a robbery where suspects got away with about $30 million from a warehouse. The crime happened on a Sunday night. No one knew about it until workers came in on Monday morning. Supposedly, the heist set off an alarm, but law enforcement never got the call.

The impact goes far beyond missing inventory. Businesses often face costly repairs, insurance complications and a loss of customer confidence that can take months to rebuild. Expert Zac Amos provides action steps for 8 security gaps.

Vol 718 – The Big Picture: Adaptive Business Continuity

October 4, 2025

Since 2015, thought leaders David Lindstedt and Mark Armour, have pushed our industry to rethink how organizations prepare for disruption. Their message: focus less on rigid plans, and more on building the capabilities that keep services running within a realistic range of losses—while respecting organizational constraints.

David and Mark transformed years of proven practices into a manifesto and later into a book. Recently Mark published a 7-part “Re-introduction” series, and we’ve gathered all the articles in one place for easy access on the HUB. Not everyone knows about ABC and not everyone agrees with it. But, over the years BCM professionals have found the approach worth serious consideration. What do you think?

Vol. 717 – The Emperor’s New Clothes: Organizational Resilience and BCM Revisited

September 18, 2025

Back in 2019 BCM professional Scott Baldwin was searching for clarity. Like many of his peers, he was excited by the promise of “Organizational Resilience” but frustrated by the lack of substance behind the term. At that time Scott launched a survey of professionals, followed by an article on the HUB. His article captured an inflection point: a moment when the field seemed to be pivoting toward something new but hadn’t yet figured out how to deliver it.

Over the past six years Scott has worked to answer the questions it raised. He revisited the survey and original article along with updates on how those unresolved questions led to the development of a measurable, capability-based framework – a new way of approaching operational resilience.

Vol. 716 – Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina: Twenty Years Later

September 5, 2025

Twenty years have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, yet its legacy as a national tragedy and a critical learning moment endures. Beyond the immense human suffering and physical destruction, Katrina exposed deep systemic failures—and, in its aftermath, prompted significant improvements in preparedness, response, and infrastructure.

This catastrophic event left a deep impression on author Kathy Rainey, who was at the time – publisher of the Disaster Resource GUIDE. The reality — human networks and entire social organizations collapsed. These social networks, especially in low-income neighborhoods, were crucial to people’s survival. They were fractured in the storm. Yet, and even today, as Kathy cautions, many vulnerabilities remain unresolved.

Here are 9 lessons learned over the past two decades.