Blog
Is Charlotte Resilient Enough to Survive the Coronavirus?
There are a number of things people in the Charlotte community have in common, we call the city “uptown” versus “downtown,” we have a love for culinary, and we’re experiencing rapid growth and increased traffic by the day. Additionally, when it comes to our homes and our places of work, everything was manufactured and transported for us to purchase it. What many people may not know is Baoding, People’s Republic of China became a Sister City of Charlotte in 1987, the Charlotte region is home to over 50 Chinese companies, the investments from China have resulted in over 2,500 jobs across the Charlotte region (according to the Charlotte Regional Business
Vishing
Have you experienced vishing? Voice phishing is a form of criminal phone fraud, using social engineering over the telephone to gain access to private personal and financial information for the purpose of financial reward. Our team was on the phone with a system provider for Asfalis and the person on the other end of the phone was able to log into our system, risking the protection of our key information. So how did this happen to us … out of all people? The simple answer is, not paying attention. When we typed in the company name and the search engine came back with over 50 phone numbers – We dialed
What’s in the Middle of Crisis and Culture?
What are all of the reasons why your workforce would not come to work? Depending on your organization and location, it could be: Snow storms High traffic volumes, construction on the roadways or train extensions A measles or Ebola outbreak The list can go on and on. However, it’s important to understand the dynamic company culture plays from an operational risk perspective. In its simplest form, company culture is the personality of your organization. It exists before your 1st employee is hired, and includes the elements of your vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Essentially, it is the delta of what you say versus how people
Beyond Readiness: An Interview With Business Resilience Expert Vanessa Vaughn
Written by James Donnelly (J.D.), Director of Issues and Crisis Management • Thought Leadership Organizations that reach a state of true business and brand resiliency are the ones that are pushing the best-practice boundaries. But what separates business resiliency from crisis readiness? How should organizations apply this concept? To probe these areas, J.D. recently interviewed Vanessa Vaughn, Founder and Chief Resilience Officer of Asfalis Advisors, a strategic partner of M Booth that provides enterprise resilience solutions for organizations. Vanessa was the first woman in Georgia to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Homeland Security and Emergency Management from Savannah State University. Under her leadership, Asfalis Advisors has implemented resilience
Crisis Corner Cafe – The Gun Business. Who Is Paying for It?
In the United States there is a lot of controversy over gun laws from officer involved shootings, active shooters, or the gun violence that has plagued many communities. Whether you are for or against guns, your alignment in either direction is a risk for your organization and your reputation. What many people don’t realize, is even if you don’t physically possess a gun, there is a good chance that you probably still own a gun. If you have a pension, 401 (k) or an investment in index funds you more than likely own the shares of gun manufacturers (Thomas, Landon, and Stephen Grocer. “You Might Be Giving Gun Companies Money,
Crisis Corner Cafe – Disrupting Human Trafficking
How often is your company attributing to the illegal goods and services running through the global supply chain? Imagine turning on the news and your company’s trucks and containers are filled with human beings who are being sold, which is essentially modern-day slavery. Imagine your company is in the headlines for fostering an environment of forced labor and labor exploitation. What would your initial reaction be? Would you be surprised? Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises, bringing in an estimated $150 billion annually. The criminals behind human trafficking understand where your supply chain starts and ends, just as well as you do, and they exploit your
Crisis Corner Cafe – Retail Apocalypse
What is the cost of your organizations inability to innovate? Whether you are in retail, technology, video, advertising, transportation, social networking, healthcare or manufacturing, your organization has to constantly strive for innovation. The value that we learn from history, is that it can repeat itself. There are hundreds of organizations that failed, due to the lack of innovation, which has led many of them to close their doors or become stagnant. Businesses close or become less relevant faster than we can keep up - leaders of Kodak, a technology company, could not see digital photography as a disruptive technology; Blockbuster failed to innovate video on a streaming platform and was
Crisis Corner Cafe – College Admissions Scandal
Would $25 million be worth the potential for up to 65 years in jail? That is what William "Rick" Singer is facing as the mastermind behind "Operation Varsity Blues", otherwise known as the College Admissions Scandal. Singer was paid by affluent parents to bribe coaches and university administrators to recruit their children and falsify admissions exams at many top U.S. universities. What's the real cost of corruption or bribery? It isn't always an organizations reputation or a regulatory headache. The most significant impact of bribery is its negative effect on morale (HBS Working Knowledge. “The Real Cost of Bribery.” Forbes. 05 Sept. 2013). According to a recent Gallup study, environments with high
Crisis Corner Cafe – Jussie Smollett
Imagine one of your top performing employees being involved with something during their personal time, and within 24 hours your company is making headline news. The headlines come faster than we can keep up from the corner coffee shop to department stores, restaurants, and even in the world of entertainment, companies are spending more resources than ever responding to a crisis. Customer confidence is shaken, significant resources are spent, and brand credibility is deeply affected. And while the headlines might bring attention to huge international corporations, the fact is all businesses or organizations have to modernize their perspective on risk and crisis management. Increasingly, people create crises, yet very few organizations are proactively coordinating strategies to address brand
Rescue Your Company
The headlines are hard to miss. Just last week the nation was stunned by a workplace shooting in Illinois where a disgruntled former employee stormed in to the Aurora warehouse where he’d just been fired and killed five people. That’s why Asfalis and Punch Alert are teaming up next month to bring you a can’t miss panel called Rescue Your Company From Unsafe Behaviors: Preventing Workplace Violence and Vulnerabilities through Leadership Training, Strategies and Effective Hiring Processes. Vanessa Vaughn runs Asfalis, an agency that works with companies to come up with business continuity and crisis management programs. Before coming to corporate America, Vaughn did terrorism mitigation in the fields