World survives Big Bang

I came home from a meeting last week the proud owner of an Evening Standard poster with the caption, 'World survives Big Bang'. I plan to frame it and hang it on my office wall. It is a reminder that the things that are most often predicted to be catastrophic rarely are (anyone remember Y2K?) while the real crisis is quietly building up somewhere in the distance. The book, The Black Swan, explains how the most unexpected events are the result of forces coming together that have been building up, unseen over time. As someone who spends a lot of time talking about crisis management this does not mean a counsel of despair. Really good crisis management planning is about an attitude of mind - we really don't know what is coming next but the best people and organisations have an ability to look the unexpected in the eye and feel confident that their systems and their people will cope. Not because they are genuises, but because they have planned and rehearsed and they know it matters. And because they have had advice from me, of course!