Business Resilience DECODED Business Resilience DECODED

Episode 167: The Culture Shifts That Will Increase Employee Retention & Profitability

Today we are joined by Vanessa’s friend, coach, and mentor: Ron Harvey, the VP and chief operating officer of Global Core Strategies & Consulting. Harvey and his team work with leaders to develop strong work cultures within their organizations, build diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and retain top talent. In this episode, Harvey is sharing his expertise on the culture shifts that will increase employee retention and profitability.

Some key takeaways from this episode include:


Our core values are the GPS for the people in our organization. They are more than pretty words on a website; they are the guide from where we are to where we want to be as a company.


2024 is already starting as a tumultuous year from global and political perspectives, but the best thing we can do as leaders is listen. If we can stick to the company's core values and listen to each other, we can move forward together.


Culture is how we behave, and how we behave impacts our bottom line. If you want to improve your profits and retention, pay attention to your culture.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


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Asfalis Advisors:


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Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producer

Jon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.

KEYWORDS: Workplace culture, leadership skills, DE&I, diversity and inclusion, profitability, core values, retaining talent

Episode 166: The Impact of ESG on Business Continuity

ESG – which stands for environmental, social, and governance investing – is a way for investors to evaluate risk and social responsibility before investing in companies. In this episode, we’ll be sharing some specifics of ESG, how it can affect your organization’s business continuity practices and decisions, and why you might consider becoming an ESG-compliant organization.

Source: Global Risk Management Institute: What Is ESG?

Some key takeaways from this episode include:


ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. ESG investors want to put their money into companies that are making a positive impact in these three areas.


The policies that fall under ESG have been highly politicized, which has made companies hesitant to implement new policies. However, investors still want to see these impactful policies in place, regardless of the political landscape.


Millennials and Gen Z highly value companies who have ethical business practices and support social causes. They want to work for companies who are making a positive impact, no matter the industry.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


Register for DRJ’s weekly (Wednesday) webinar series


Register for DRJ Spring 2024: Unleashing the Power of Resilience



Asfalis Advisors:


Apply to be a guest on the podcast


Download the 5 Step Crisis Strategy



Connect with the podcast!


Email us: podcast@drj.com


Website


Twitter


LinkedIn


YouTube



Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producer

Jon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.



KEYWORDS: ESG, environmental impact, social impact, org structure, DEI, ESG investing, ethical company, recruiting, retaining talent

Episode 165: Best Practices to Land Your Next Big Role | Resumes, Interview Tips, & More

If you find yourself looking for a new role, you might be wondering how to set yourself apart in the application and interview process. Enter Kim Hooper, an HR manager for Asfalis and an award-winning security professional with more than 20 years of experience at companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon. In this episode, Kim is sharing her best tips and practices for polishing your resume, nailing the interview, and more!

Resources mentioned:


Security Industry Association



Some key takeaways from this episode include:


Always do your research on the company before your interview. What are their core values? Are there opportunities for community engagement within the organization? Write down the questions you have about the company, and bring a pen and paper to take notes.


Keep your resume simple and easy to digest. Avoid templates that are so detailed or stylized that you forget to remove placeholder text, and don’t try to create a super colorful resume to stand out. It’s way more important that it’s legible and quick to scan.


Pay attention to your digital footprint. Clean up your social media, make sure your email address and social media handles are professional, and maintain an updated and active LinkedIn profile.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


Register for DRJ’s weekly (Wednesday) webinar series


Register for DRJ Spring 2024: Unleashing the Power of Resilience



Asfalis Advisors:


Apply to be a guest on the podcast


Download the 5 Step Crisis Strategy



Connect with the podcast!


Email us: podcast@drj.com


Website


Twitter


LinkedIn


YouTube



Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producer

Jon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.

Episode 164: Should Brands Take a Political Stance?



In 2024, we are entering election season, which in the U.S. has become more and more divisive over the last several years. In this episode, we are going to dig into whether businesses or brands should take political stances on divisive issues, and how you can choose to navigate this going into 2024.

Some key takeaways from this episode include:


There are two ways to approach conversations about politics at work. One, if a conversation is not going to be productive, then maybe the workplace isn’t the best place to have it. And two, is it going to cause harm to have that discussion?


What are your company’s values, mission, and vision? If your brand takes a political stance, can it be backed up by the company values? If there’s not a connection, it can cause problems.


Safety can be a factor with taking a political stance. It’s important to consider if taking a strong stance on something could result in workplace violence or threats to your employees.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


Register for DRJ’s weekly (Wednesday) webinar series


Register for DRJ Spring 2024: Unleashing the Power of Resilience



Asfalis Advisors:


Apply to be a guest on the podcast


Download the 5 Step Crisis Strategy



Connect with the podcast!


Email us: podcast@drj.com


Website


Twitter


LinkedIn


YouTube



Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producer

Jon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.

KEYWORDS: politics, election year, risk management, workplace safety, workplace culture

Episode 163: The Joy of Metrics + Training the Next Generation of Professionals



Metrics are a huge factor in business continuity and allow us to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our strategies. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Bernard Jones, professor of homeland security and emergency management at St. John’s University. Throughout his career, he’s worked in several industries, including tech and data, healthcare, security, and higher education.

Some key takeaways from this episode include:


It’s really important to keep track of the key metrics within your organization, but measuring effectiveness comes down to how well you’re executing the BCP, and is senior leadership included in the conversation?


Executive engagement is mandatory as a part of any continuity program. If they’re not bought into the plan, the processes, and the protocols, you don’t have an effective program.


When it comes to leading the next generation of emergency management professionals, it’s important to understand modern and future impacts on the field, such as retrospective studies of the pandemic, and the effects of climate change.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


Register for DRJ’s weekly (Wednesday) webinar series


Register for DRJ Spring 2024: Unleashing the Power of Resilience



Asfalis Advisors:


Apply to be a guest on the podcast


Download the 5 Step Crisis Strategy



Connect with the podcast!


Email us: podcast@drj.com


Website


Twitter


LinkedIn


YouTube



Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producer

Jon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.

KEYWORDS: emergency management, homeland security, Gen Z, next generation, business continuity metrics, business continuity

Episode 162: Artificial Intelligence in Business Continuity | Use Cases, Risks, and Our Favorite AI Tools

At the recent DRJ conference in Phoenix, the topic everyone wanted to talk about was AI (artificial intelligence). As tools like ChatGPT become more mainstream, the conversation is shifting to how we can actually use these tools in our industry. In this episode, we’re sharing some of the ways we’re using AI in our business, and how you can better leverage it as a tool for your own business.

AI Tools:


ChatGPT


Captions.ai


Claude.ai


Prompt to train the AI chat on your business



Some key takeaways from this episode include:


Different AI tools can do different things. ChatGPT is great for coming up with ideas and written copy, but if you want to summarize or pull the main bullet points from a report, you can use a tool like Claude which can take in PDF files. 


With ChatGPT, you may be tempted to ask generic prompts like “give me social media topics for a business continuity brand” or “produce a business continuity plan for XYZ,” but the more specific you can be with the prompt, the better the responses you’ll get back. 


Make sure you don’t use any personal or private information, and be careful about importing documents that aren’t publicly available or contain sensitive information. Always get input from your security team before using any AI tools.



Disaster Recovery Journal:


Register for DRJ’s weekly (Wednesday) webinar series


Register for DRJ Spring 2024: Unleashing the Power of Resilience



Asfalis Advisors:


Apply to be a guest on the podcast


Download the 5 Step Crisis Strategy



Connect with the podcast!


Email us: podcast@drj.com


Website


Twitter


LinkedIn


YouTube



Vanessa Mathews, host

Vanessa Mathews is the founder and chief resilience officer of Asfalis Advisors, where they are focused on protecting the legacy of the leaders they serve through business resilience. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mathews developed global crisis management and business continuity programs for government and private sector organizations to include Lowe’s Companies, Gulfstream Aerospace, and the Department of Homeland Security.


Book Mathews as a speaker 



Jon Seals, producerJon Seals is the editor in chief at Disaster Recovery Journal, the leading magazine/event in business continuity. Seals is an award-winning journalist with a background in publication design, business media, content management, sports journalism, social media, and podcasting.