Infinite Pursuit: Courage to Lead…

How will you be accelerating towards your “Just Cause” in the next year?

What is it, that you and your most Trusted Team of Leaders have agreed upon, as your desired and inclusive service-oriented endeavor?

Why are you operating in this particular and unique “Infinite Game”?

How will your “Just Cause” make a difference with so many others? Will you endure the journey long enough and with sustained resiliency to see the results to advance?

You know you are in this Infinite Game when you finally realize that no one will ever become the winner.

The change that you and your team will endure over time will be significant. Yet the purpose and the drive to see what is over-the-horizon next, is your ultimate pursuit.

When you finally comprehend and rationalize that your “Just Cause” is truly unachievable, that is your true sign of courage.

The courage to persevere is not attainable with everyone. Yet it is something that can be learned. Will you?

It is Infinite and therefore you will only master a few key elements of the journey that will make the difference in your lifetime.

Go outside on a partly cloudy yet sunny day about 4 hours before Sunset. Walk. Run. Bike. Or just Play. In a favorite place with others you enjoy being with. People you trust and will collaborate with on your infinite quest.

Now as our Sun sets on the Western horizon in your particular part of our Earth, look up. What do you see and how do you feel?

Is your “Just Cause” in your mind? Do you wonder if you will ever see or feel that accomplishment you so much desire?

If the answer is Yes, you are on the right and true course towards something that is bold and ultimately always beyond reach.

Yet it will be so empirical when you know, you are almost courageously there…

All Hazards Continuity: From the C-Suite to the Frontline...

"Planning for Continuity of Business" has been shifting from pure disaster recovery to an "All Hazards" point-of-view on the frontline of your institution.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Critical Infrastructure industries realized that no business is immune from catastrophic events.

Even the severity of the last several years of hurricane seasons, however, taught our national institutions that disaster recovery programs alone cannot protect their businesses, forcing all 16 Critical Infrastructure domains to reevaluate the strength of their backup plans.

With the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina and others still largely visible, industry sector leaders have renewed their focus on preparedness as they rethink their risk management strategies and bolster their business continuity plans.

Hurricane Harvey (2017)
“One of the costliest tropical cyclones in United States History, let alone the Houston area, Hurricane Harvey caused more than $120 billion in damage and killed 68 people. 300,000 structures were flooded, and structures around the city were destroyed due to 130 mph winds. A category 4 storm, Harvey even produced upwards of 60 separate tornadoes during its 5 days of destruction.”

Rather than rely on disaster recovery plans to pick up the pieces after a business disruption, companies and municipalities are shifting their activity to Proactive and Continuous focused business continuity plans to keep operations running throughout a major disaster.

An "All Hazards" perspective changes the way you Deter, Detect, Defend and Document (4D) the existing and future operational risks to your enterprise.

In many institutions, disaster recovery was the responsibility of a specific group in the company, many times found in the IT department.  Not any longer.

Moving the corporate mentality to an "All Hazards" point-of-view takes the specialties of disaster recovery and spreads it across the whole organization.

A standards-based process could be:

• Identify
• Assess
• Decide
• Implement
• Audit
• Supervise

If just this six-step process is incorporated into the daily planning and continuous monitoring of corporate missions, then it's possible to quickly move from a reactive mode to a more proactive mode for managing all hazards risk.

You eliminate the thinking that a single department or person is in charge of Business Continuity or Disaster Management.

In our daily work schedule there must be time allocated to use this simple process when new missions are created or existing missions are reexamined.

The COO, CFO, CIO, CSO and CxO along with their direct reports all perform their own process within their own subject matter domain.

This puts the expertise for risk mitigation in the hands of the most knowledgeable person for that particular process, system or external event.

It includes the idea that hazards include much more than the typical thinking of hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.

Even if the catalyst is not Mother Nature and just another salvo of “Ransomware,” from a renamed criminal group that is supported by a Nation State.

By implementing an "All Hazards" process for risk management that is utilized by every team and business unit, you create a true “Culture of Continuous Continuity”...

Trust Decisions: Latent Outcomes in Accelerating Conditions…

 “Trust is the affirmative output of a disciplined, analytical decision process that measures and scores the suitability of the next actions taken by you, your team, your business, or your community.

Trust is the calculation of the probability of outcomes. In every interaction with the world, you are identifying, measuring, and figuring out the likelihoods. When the results are positive, you move ahead, from here to there.

When the results are negative, you rarely move ahead; you stay put or you find an alternate path.” Achieving Digital Trust -Page 49- Jeffrey Ritter

Why do you make a decision to utilize the capabilities of a specific tool, a talented person or to take action to invest in your own resources of time, money and cognition?

Trust exists.

Yet when the results of your trust remains negative beyond a defined time based rule-set, you must pivot and navigate to an alternative course, that has a higher likelihood of a positive set of outcomes.

This is the point in time, that a real-time awareness of your operating environment becomes absolutely vital.

Are your first indicators of negative outcomes latent, at the point when you make your next “Trust Decision” or to pivot?

To pivot and to navigate in your particular environment or Area of Responsibility (AOR), that will more rapidly increase the positive outcomes you seek.

How much time will pass, until you or your organization realizes, that the course you are on, has not produced the consistency of favorable results your allies require?

• Seconds.
• Minutes.
• Hours.
• Days.
• Weeks.
• Months.
• Years.
• Decades.

How forgiving is the environment you are operating in?

Will your operating environment allow for continuous negative results, for more than a few seconds or even minutes? Or will you allow it, for a few weeks, months or longer?

Success and the “Trust Decisions” process is fueled by information. Continuous information. It is a rules-based exercise.

What are the rules on your Playing Field, Air Field, Battle Field or within your “Silicon and Software”operating environment?

The tolerance of “how much time you will allow to pass,” is vital to your continuous positive achievement and your creation of new found wealth.

The “Trust Decision” is Rules-based. It is Fueled by information. If the information about the target does not conform or is ignored, then a trusted environment will not be attained.

“Instead, trust (or the absence of trust) is and always has been the resulting sum of a rules-based, information-fueled calculation.” Achieving Digital Trust -Page 52- Jeffrey Ritter

USA: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…

As the United States celebrates our July 4th weekend, 245 years of what it means to be a true American is ever more present.

Our nation’s Flag, which shows 50 White stars on a Blue background and 13 Red & White stripes, is a symbolic reminder of what America stands for and where our journey began almost two and a half centuries ago.

How might we continuously improve and defend our Nation, as new global opportunities emerge and new challenges are understood?

What is certain, are the words written in our Declaration of Independence in 1776. As the world views and listens to the “United States of America”, what does it see and hear?

If you asked ten people at a 4th of July parade in “Anytown, USA” on Sunday:

What is Independence Day and what does it mean? How many people asked would know the correct answer?

When the author of the Declaration of Independence became our third President, he knew the country was in for tremendous challenges ahead. What was his name?

Did you get the question correct?

Thomas Jefferson, was a Lawyer and a Christian. He was just 33 year old and our Revolutionary War had just started, when his famous words were written for a formal declaration of independence.

Our U.S. Constitution was not signed until 11 years later in 1787.

As you celebrate this unique American Holiday, think deeply about our history…

Think about all those Americans who have died, in their allegiance to our Flag and the Constitution of the United States.

Americans who have died so you too, could truly experience freedom…