Overview
In this next episode, I was joined by Jeff Donaldson, PhD to kick off a new topic we haven’t discussed on the podcast yet — emergency preparedness. This episode starts with a look at the topic from a micro perspective, personal preparedness, and future episodes will touch on the macro, such as corporate or public-level preparedness and resiliency.
Jeff brings a tremendous amount of experience directly relating to preparedness to the podcast today, from his experience as a military officer in the Canadian Army (28 years!), as the principal researcher at Preparedness Labs Incorporated, and as an Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University. Plus, he’s earned his MA in Disaster and Emergency Management, along with his doctorate in Public Policy. All that to say, he’s a wealth of knowledge for us on the subject.
He even hosts a highly acclaimed podcast on preparedness (link below) and leads training sessions where he communicates (as he says), “Non-Apocalyptic evidence-based strategies for rational people with dreams.”
Today’s conversation focused on the philosophy of preparedness, the critical role of social capital and how it increases your ability to survive and thrive, personal responsibility, and systematic thinking/planning/considerations for you and I.
— Learn more about Jeff and his projects here —
– Preparedness Labs Inc
– Inside My Canoehead (Podcast)
Highlights from This Episode
- Scalability of Preparedness: Preparedness starts at an individual level and can scale to organizational and community levels.
- Non-Apocalyptic Approach: Emphasizes rational, evidence-based preparedness over apocalyptic scenarios.
- Personal Responsibility: The importance of accepting personal responsibility for one’s outcomes in preparedness.
- Special Needs Consideration: Tailoring preparedness plans to account for special needs within a family, such as medical requirements.
- Social Capital: Building strong relationships and networks within the community as a key factor in effective preparedness and resilience.
- Preparedness as a Lifestyle: Viewing preparedness as an ongoing lifestyle rather than a one-time effort or stockpiling of resources.
- Effective Communication: Utilizing marketing strategies to communicate preparedness messages effectively to diverse audiences.
- Insurance and Building Codes: The need for policy changes to include disaster risk information in property transactions and promote resilient building practices.
- Iterative Process: Preparedness should be revisited regularly, with a commitment of small amounts of time each month to review and update plans.
- Role of Financial, Physical, and Mental Health: Emphasizing the importance of financial stability, physical fitness, and mental well-being as foundational elements of preparedness.
Memorable Quotes:
- “Preparedness is the blanket of insulation that you wrap your life in so that you can go chase your dreams and rock an incredible life knowing that you’ve taken a few steps to insulate yourself from those shocks that are beyond your control.”
- “Preparedness is a lifestyle. It’s not a stockpile. You cannot purchase your way to preparedness.”
- “If you don’t take care of yourself, then you’re really not much good to any industry that you work in.”
- “Your number one resource you’ll ever have is your neighbor, absolutely without question.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Books:
- – Using Social Marketing for Public Emergency Preparedness by Professor Nancy Meyer-Emerick
- Podcasts:
- – Inside My Canoe Head – Jeff’s podcast on preparedness
- – Epic Emergency Preparedness in Canada – A podcast for experts and practitioners in the field
- People:
- – Ryan Holiday – Mentioned in relation to the idea of “The Obstacle Is the Way”
- – Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) – Mentioned for his marketing strategies and the concept of “jab, jab, jab, hook”
Use CONTROL + F to search the transcript below if you want to learn more!
Related Episodes
- Corporate Intel to Emergency Management
- Healthcare & Emergency Management
- Medicine & Security Standards
- Personal Emergency Preparedness
- Rethinking Business Continuity