Covid-19 the long awaited storm
I am not sure about you, but I am feeling left of centre, adrift on a ginormous wave without a flotation device and no land in sight.
Being proud of having a keen interest in pandemic planning, focusing on asset management exceeding 2 decades, I am fascinated by how I am dealing with the current situation both intellectually and physically. This is particularly poignant given I have had a very long time to prepare for an eventuality that I always knew would arrive.
In the past I have developed programs, policies and procedures to deal with the risks associated with doing business across borders impacted by Ebola, SARS and Swine Flu. I have set up Pandemic Planning committees and been the inaugural chair for more than one entity; have had a song written about my talks on pandemic planning; my roles have included the risk management of assets worth tens of millions of dollars; as a team member I was the risk manager for the total isolation and hibernation of assets over a massive, complex site that included dangerous goods, volatile chemicals and highly sensitive research; after which I was a speaker at an international conference on the subject.
So, you would think I would have most of the answers to many of the questions businesses are rightly asking.The answer is both yes and no. The pandemic plans I wrote for corporate and government were all hypotheticals and based on the best literature from the best experts available at the time; none of whom (through no fault of their own)had actually dealt with a pandemic. There has never been one in any of our living memories on which to base our assumptions.
Personally, I feel like I could scream and scream and scream into a cyclone for hours and not release the tension that has built up inside meoverthe past few months.
I am naturally drawn to leading people to becoming the best they can be, giving freely of my time and knowledge. What I want to know now is how I can help businesses at this time without adding to the noise from the multitude of ‘experts’ out there. To this end I have created a plan that looks like this:
1) Ask business owners and mangers what they need in relation to managing the risks to physical assets directly impacted by the current Covid-19 crisis. TICK
2) Get the best mentor I can to guide me through the quagmire of information circulating in all forms of media at the present time. TICK
3) Develop free, relevant and easy to use resources for businesses to assist owners and managers in creating their own focused responsein as quick a timeframe as practicable. TICK
4) Present Thought Leadership on the risk management of assets whereI feel I have a higher than average knowledge and can value add. TICK
5) Make the information available across a variety of media platforms that are contemporary and inclusive. TICK
