THRIVE! The official publication of DRI International
Issue #2 is now available! 

Does adversity and facing challenges make us stronger?
 
How does adversity affect your ability to conquer your obstacles? When tough times push hard on your goals and aspirations, how do you respond? When the not-so-pleasant-or-perfect situations tax your strength and spirit, how do you react?

It's a not-so-perfect world sometimes. We BCP folks have an inner strength that transcends the issues that may befall our organization or our staff.  We carry on when we may be personally challenged and impacted by the same incident from which we are striving to recover our business.

Have you had situations where the disaster is personal before it's professional? Have you had to rise above and manage to satisfy your personal needs; then those of your family and community; and finally, those of your company? Have you and your committed, dedicated colleagues pooled your strengths, calmed each other's nerves, and worked hard to perform the role of business continuity manager?

I have been very lucky to meet some really inspirational people in my travels as trainer for DRI, BCM manager, and active member of my community. So many of the amazing people I have had the honor to meet have worked through major incidents and outages and been assigned to dangerous places to help those in desperate need. Some of them have served our country proudly, with dignity, class, and heroism in the military, FEMA, HHS, as CERT, or in an OEM. How do these seemingly ordinary folks perform with such efficiency and clarity when bad things swirl all around them? How do their valiant actions inspire? How do they put their emotions in check to venture forward? What do we see in their behavior that inspires us to be more, to be better; to be equally valiant at our jobs and in our home lives, with our personal challenges, and the big and little things that cross our paths on a regular basis?

To the helicopter pilot, the recently retired servicemen, the guy who's traveled to the most dangerous places after major disasters; to the people who counseled the families impacted in Newtown; to the people involved in creating Tuesday's Children; to the people who organized volunteer efforts after Sandy; to my neighbor and survivor of the Holocaust and Viet Nam; to my buddy who travels to impoverished nations to preach the gospel; to the woman who left the dangers of her home country to find a new life elsewhere; to my friends who tirelessly create fund raising concerts for those in need after disasters; to photographers and TV reporters who risk their lives to bring us the honest news; to the leader of a foundation whose mission is to help women in need around the globe; to the brave men and women who help to rebuild communities and the spirit of those affected; and to those who are seriously ill and press on without complaint: I tip my hat and give my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all you do. There is something special in you...something extraordinary.  Your deeds and hard work serve as shining examples of the goodness, caring compassion, capability, and resiliency that inspire the rest of us to do more and work harder. Your achievements and acts of kindness in the hardest of times inspire me to set aside small issues and be more.

For all of you who are BCP professionals who step up each time you respond to an outage; for all of you who strive to protect, recover, and preserve the viability of the entities you serve: Thank you for your commitment and courage. For those of you who go towards the fire when the rest of us go the other way: Thank you. How is it that you forge onward to help where help is most needed? For the many that I have met on my BCP journey: Thanks for helping me keep all things in perspective. Thank you for providing clarity and keeping the lights on when all around us seems dark. Your ability to help others while balancing life and family is truly the mark of real professionals and special people. My hat is off to you.

Have a great week,
Clyde
cberger@driif.org
Vice President and Director of Volunteerism
Disaster Recovery Institute International Foundation

I do not watch the Superbowl.  As passionate as I am about baseball, is how disinterested I am football.  For me, Superbowl is movie night.  The Oscar contenders are in the theaters, but the people aren't.  It's like getting a private screening. So, instead of watching the big game, I saw "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Lincoln." They were both great films, but I can't help but feel robbed!  I missed the power outage!

Here I sit writing about continuity week after week (actually for about 20 years now), and I miss the Blackout Bowl!  Power outage, the number one cause of business disruption, disrupted America's main event, and I didn't see it. I have been reading about it, though, and I wanted to share with you two articles that did more than sum up the situation and poke fun at the folks running the show (although there was plenty of that kind of coverage).

The first is a blog post by James Hamilton, who is an engineer for Amazon.  Hamilton provides a fantastic analysis of what went down and how it could have been prevented for less than cost of 60 seconds of Superbowl advertising.  He concludes: "Given the value of the game, the relative low cost of power redundancy equipment, I would argue it's time to start retrofitting major sporting venues with more redundant design and employing more aggressive pre-game testing." Give this fascinating piece a read.

Next up, what happens next year?  The Superbowl is scheduled to be played in East Rutherford, NJ.  This Yahoo! News piece raises questions about the feasibility of a half-time show in what's sure to be some pretty cold weather.  It also wonders aloud what happens if a snow or ice storm (like the one predicted to start today) hits New Jersey on Superbowl Sunday. What do you do?  Call it off?  Play it anyway?  Either decision is rife with big money business issues.  How would you plan for that event?  Let me know; I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.  But unless the storm of the century hits, I know what my plans are, I'll be right where I was this year, at the movies.

  

On Oct. 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit the Jersey Shore, leaving areas of devastation that still remain. On Tuesday, the Newark Star-Ledger ran a photo essay of images from the paper's photographer Andy Mills.  Mills juxtaposed shots of the immediate aftermath with current images to show what each scene looks like now.  While there has been progress, the gut-wrenching photographs show how much more needs to be done.

You are invited to participate in DRI International's Awards of Excellence Program and Awards Gala Dinner to honor individuals and corporations who are leaders and innovators within our profession. This event will recognize those who have achieved a level of excellence in the fields of continuity management, technology recovery (DR), and crisis management. The challenges associated with building a successful business continuity management program are many and we strongly believe that as a global continuity management training and certification organization, it is our duty to recognize and celebrate excellence. For a list of awards categories, click here. To nominate, log in to your MyDRI account and click on the Awards of Excellence option on the top right of the screen.  And here is a list of FAQs.

The awards will be presented as the culmination of the DRI International Conference at the Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner to be held at the Downtown Philadelphia Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Nominations are due by February 15, 2013.

To assure a fair and unbiased assessment of all applicants, we have established a process that allows for blind judging by senior industry professionals drawn from amongst the most highly respected organizations, to independently judge the nominees in each category.

For more information, contact the Awards Team by calling (866) 542-3744 or via email at info@drii.org.

We're thrilled to let you know that the conference program for DRI2013 is now available online right here! And we encourage you to register for our second annual conference, to be held June 4-7 in Philadelphia, PA, right away.  

  

A truly outstanding industry event, DRI2013 features a truly international conference program, superior networking, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and innovative interaction with the provider community. Register today at  www.DRIconference.org!

Here's a great resource for anyone in your organization who has kids (or has a thing for superheroes).  The American College of Emergency Physicians has created the online game Disaster Hero to help kids learn what to do before, during and after disasters, like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

The game is geared toward first through eighth graders and has different levels based on reading ability. Kids create their own online superhero identities and match wits with cartoon characters in a game-show format. In the process, players learn the basics of preparedness, danger signals, typical effects of common disasters, and how to deal with some common injuries.

Other features include arcade games and puzzles to teach kids about escape routes and avoiding hazards. A search for hidden objects teaches them what to put in their emergency kit, and quizzes make sure they're paying attention.

Sounds like a winner!