Nov 16 2007
WCBA - Richard Sheirer on Lessons for Leaders from 9/11
At the World Congress for Business Analysts (WCBA) in Disneyland today, Richard Sheirer from Guilani Partners shared lessons learned from 9/11. Richard was the director of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) at the time of the crisis.
His message was that there are similarities between the business community and public safety. He stated that planning, preparing, practicing and execution are as important in public sector as in the business sector. In addition, communication is the key to success during a crisis.
In terms of practicing, Richard noted that simulating events is critical and that NYC held drills and simulations for many different potential castastrophes - and that practice was critical to their response on 9/11.
Before concluding with a photo montage from Ground Zero, Richard highlighted 10 lessons from the events of 2001:
- think the unthinkable
- factor in for Murphy’s Law
- appreciate that catastrophic events don’t recognize turf
- accept policies over reason/science
- be prepared for the knucklehead factor
- value and encourage strong leadership
- rely on your frames of reference
- appreciate the need for redundancy and think outside the box
- recognize the importance of communication
- commit to relentless preparation and practice
Richard wrapped up by saying that America and American companies are and will continue to be major terrorist targets - they will likely strike something unlikely and we can never let our guard down. Natural disasters like Katrina and the Southern California wildfires will pose greater threats. Finally, planning, preparation, and practice contributes to prevention.