Emergency Management Solutions Newsletter

 

Helping Managers Lead Better in Crisis

January 2014

In This Issue
Monthly Video
Blog Highlights
Featured Article
Professional Development
Life Balance
From the Bookshelf
Speaker's Corner

New for 2014!

 

Within the next few weeks you'll be receiving announcements about several new services that I'll be offering for 2014:
  • Leadership coaching: assess and improve your leadership behavior using well-validated assessment and coaching tools.
  • The Leadership ChallengeÒ: empower your team to achieve extraordinary results through this assessment and workshop.
  • Consulting Transitions: Find out how to make the shift from public employee to successful consultant with this new membership site.
I'm really excited about these new services and I hope you will be too. Please keep an eye out for the announcements which will be coming your way very soon!
 

The Leadership ChallengeÒ is a registered trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. www.leadershipchallenge.com

Monthly Video 


Episode 1, Meet
Episode 1, Meet "Disaster" and "Preparedness"
Here's the first in a series of six preparedness videos developed by the Metropolitan Emergency Managers Committee of Greater Kansas City. The message is simple and the video is done in a way that makes it both enjoyable and memorable for the public. Funding was provided by a Homeland Security grant. Videos of this type are relatively inexpensive to produce and can have great impact. Since it's release March 2012, this video has had almost 26,000 unique views on YouTube.
Blog Highlights

The following are excerpts from my blog
Canton on Emergency Management. Please visit my blog to see the rest of my articles.

 

Visit our blog 
 
01-13-2014
 

Newly released footage from a dash-mounted camera shows that firefighters at the scene of last year's Asiana airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport were aware of the position of the victim who was later killed by being run over by two fire trucks. The film and the attendant media coverage offer some interesting lessons in crisis management...»


12-24-2013
 

Of the many stories told about Christmas, one that has always had a special meaning for me is the unofficial truce of 1914 during World War I.

 

December 1914 was just a few short months after the start of the war and the Germans and the Allies had fought themselves to a stalemate. This was the beginning of the long period of trench warfare that would come to characterize World War I...»

 

 

Remember that you  can also follow my new Emergency Management Magazine blog Managing Crisis


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L. Canton Photo 2013  

Welcome to the January issue of Emergency Management Solutions

 

With the advent of the New Year, I'm pleased to announce several new services I've been developing for 2014. I've got several more ideas and projects in the works, some that have been in development for some time, so stay tuned!
This month's featured article offers a case study from last year's devastating wildfire in California, the third worst in the State's history. The case study offers insight into how complex recovery can become, even for what should be a simple process.

Regards,

Lucien Canton  

_________________________________________________

Featured Article

Recovery is Complex

A Case Study From the Rim Fire

   

 

One of the mistaken assumptions we sometimes make is that all phases of the comprehensive emergency management model (preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation) are equally weighted when it comes to planning. The reality is that we place considerably more emphasis on preparedness and response than we do on mitigation and recovery. Yet surviving a disaster is a Pyrrhic victory unless we can restore the community that was affected.
 

Recovery planning is not heavily addressed for a variety of reasons. It lacks the immediacy of response planning and involves a much broader range of stakeholders. It is closely associated with politics and community planning. Most importantly, however, is that, unlike response planning, the issues and measures of success are not always clear cut or easy to address.

Last year's Rim Fire near Yosemite Valley in California provides an example of these complex issues.

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE 

 

_______________________________

 

If you are having trouble viewing my featured article, try clicking on the link at the top of the page. You can always find my articles in the white paper section of my blog site,  Canton on Emergency Management. 

Professional Development 

 

ASIS International is an association dedicated, among other things, to developing educational programs and materials for the security industry. As part of this mission, ASIS offers one to three webinars a month at a cost of $49 - $100 per webinar. The webinars are good for CPE credits and many of the subjects pertain to emergency management.

 

If you're a member of the association, there's a $99 subscription fee that gets you access to all the webinars.

 

Here are the topics scheduled for this year:

  • February 25: Communicating in a Crisis
  • February 26: Organizational Resilience - An International Perspective
  • March 19: 26 Safe School Standards
  • April 16: Managing Contractors Onsite
  • May 21: Case Study of a Transnational Threat: Lashkar-e-Taiba
  • June 11: How to Protect a Company's Perimeter
  • August 20: Critical Infrastructure Protection from a Private Security Perspective
  • December 10: Use of Social Media for Screening Employee Candidates & Mentoring Current Employees

For more information, check out the ASIS website.

Life Balance  

  

In my first job following a stint in the army and graduate school, I found myself working in an office where it wasn't practical to go out for lunch. Unlike my coworkers, who wolfed down their lunch while continuing to work and take calls, I formed the habit of clearing my desk and spending my allotted half hour reading and eating the lunch my new bride had prepared for me.

I took a lot of flak from my coworkers about this, both for taking the time out from work and for my choice of reading material (usually the Wall Street Journal). I just didn't fit in with the corporate culture. But after those lunch breaks, I was refreshed and more efficient and I didn't develop the harried look that my coworkers had.

Later in my career there were many times when I had to grab lunch on the fly or even miss it all together. But these were exceptions and not the norm. Whenever possible, I would take my lunch period to recharge my batteries. This was particularly effective when I could share my lunch period chatting with a colleague or friend or taking a brief walk.

So make sure you carve a little private time out of each day to rest and recharge. It really does allow you to deal with work in a more relaxed and efficient way.

From the Bookshelf  
 
Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies
by United Nations University Press
 
The crucial element in understanding the risks facing a community is identifying the vulnerability of the community to hazards. It is something of a shock, then, to realize that not only is there no single method for assessing vulnerability, there is not even agreement on basic terms such as risk and vulnerability. This problem is just one of the many issues that Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies brings into sharp focus as it considers the current state of vulnerability assessment.
            Edited by Jörn Birkmann, the book uses the work of experts from across the globe to discuss the issues surrounding the measurement of vulnerability at both the micro and macro levels. The authors consider problems in defining vulnerability, the use of indicators, existing methodologies and their shortcomings and directions for future research. International in scope and academic in tone, Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies is a welcome addition to any professional library.

Speaker's Corner 
Looking for a Speaker?

 

Need a speaker for your next conference? I offer keynotes, seminars and workshops.
 
Why Should You Choose Me As Your Speaker? 
Why Should You Choose Me As Your Speaker?
 
You can find more details and sample videos on my website or on my SpeakerMatch page.  
  
Speaking Engagements  

  

Now taking bookings for 2014!

©Lucien G. Canton January 2014