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Being able to create calm during a major emergency is not easy, Michael Brown will attest to that. It’s what you do to ensure you learn those lessons and there are always lessons-to-be-learned from major crises. Recent hurricanes, cyber-attacks, wildfires, and the mass shooting in Las Vegas are challenging situations that needed to be managed. In this interview with Former Under Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Brown, we discuss how businesses and governments need to work together to be more resilient. We also discussed some of the more concerning scenarios and what mistakes organizations make in their emergency preparedness efforts.
Michael’s Bio:
The first Under Secretary of Homeland Security for President George W. Bush from 2003-2005, Director, Deputy Director and General Counsel, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2001-2005.
At the White House he served on the Consequence Management Committee, comprised of cabinet deputies, following the attacks of 9/11, and headed the White House transition team for Emergency Preparedness & Response, Department of Homeland Security. He also served on the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee.
Michael served as a representative to NATO’s Civil Emergency Planning Committee and worked on various matters in Russia, the European Union and its member countries, and Southeast Asia.
As a frequent public speaker Michael provides insightful and unique perspectives on issues of national security, crisis management, and politics. He has spoken worldwide on these issues. His public speaking experience ranges from Fortune 100 companies to international conferences in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He has spoken to nonprofits organizations and major U.S. metropolitan cities and their various departments and agencies.
His most frequent public speaking topics worldwide include personal resilience, homeland security, cybersecurity, leadership, organizational management and current events.
He is the author of “Deadly Indifference: The Perfect (Political) Storm” in which he poignantly describes the role of politics in a risk-aversion society facing natural or manmade disasters. He has spoken around the world on issues of homeland security, crisis management and disaster response.
Michael has co-founded a software imaging company, counseled White House appointees, and regularly appears on Fox News, Fox Business, and other national television and radio programs.
Michael hosts The Michael Brown Show on iHeartRadio and 630KHOW from 4-7 Mountain Time Monday-Friday.
Specialties: Government relations, strategic planning, public speaking.
Connect with Michael Brown on LinkedIn
Good interview, been following on LinkedIn for a little bit now, just coming back around to listening to Podcasts (as they have come and gone in popularity over the years).
As I said before very good interview and always great to hear from insiders, would have been interesting to hear more about the inner workings of the creating of DHS or legal issues facing emergency management/response today (but that might be a little too wonky for some, as I’m not a lawyer probably would not have understood most of it anyway).
What stuck most with me though, and what has inspired me to write my own response (not that it will be directed at Secretary Brown or this prearedex) is the concept of throwing out your emergency plan at the first sign of a disaster or “when the bullets start to fly” I look at this as a sign of failure on your part of not putting together a plan that wasn’t flexible enough to account for some of the commonalities that do occur when bullets start flying or occur during emergencies/disasters. Or you failed at obtaining true expectations of your jurisdictions response capabilities by either failing to bring in the right people to assist in determining those capabilities or not reaching out in the first place. Lastly and this was said correctly in the interview you have to test to fail during emergency exercises, without identifying your failure points within your plan you will have to through it out when that emergency or disaster happens because it will be useless, but that’s not the plans fault, it’s your for not working to make the plan better and stronger in the first place.