Football Transfers + Project Management + Insider Threats & More
Profiles in Preparedness #16
At its core, disaster preparedness comes down to two things: choosing the right projects that will advance your organization’s or community’s readiness, and getting them done.
That alone is a challenge—but add in limited resources, shifting priorities, and the need to engage the very stakeholders you’ll rely on in a disaster, and execution becomes even harder. The good news? It’s absolutely doable. With the right approach, you can cut through the noise, focus on what matters, and make meaningful progress before the next disaster strikes. And that’s exactly what we help organizations do.
This week, I published the first six chapters of a new Playbook we’ve been working on: "Project Management in Emergency Management." It’s designed to help emergency managers get projects done—and they are now available to our Academy subscribers.
You can read the opening chapter, whether you’re a subscriber or not, here:
This Week‘s Reads
Here are two articles and a podcast that I read and listened to this week and some context about why I thought they were worth sharing.
Podcast | The Anatomy of a Transfer. When I was a kid watching sports, I’d think, "Yeah, I could do that.” (Whether I actually could or not is another story.) These days, I find myself more drawn to the behind-the-scenes decisions—how teams are built, how rosters come together. That’s exactly what this episode from The Athletic explores, breaking down the mechanics of player transfers in European football/soccer.
The podcast takes a 360-degree look at the process, covering perspectives from players, coaches, agents, scouts, medical staff, general managers, owners, and even lawyers. While the focus is on soccer, the strategic elements of recruitment and team building apply to any industry. The best teams don’t just happen; they’re built with intention.
My takeaway from the episode is that you have a choice. You either put in the work and develop the processes you need to get the right people into the right spot when the window opens, or you choose to work around the clock to compensate for the lack of structure and hope that you make the right call.
Article | Reducing Information Overload in Your Organization. Think your inbox is overwhelming? Try sitting in an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during a hurricane, wildfire, or any major incident. The flood of emails, Slack or Teams messages, texts, phone calls, video briefings, and in-person updates turns from busy to unmanageable fast. That one message with 19 “thumbs up” acknowledgments? It just made your phone vibrate 20 times.
The real challenge isn’t just the volume of information—it’s making sense of it while staying focused on action. People waste valuable time parsing emails to figure out whether they need to do something or if they were just CC’d for “awareness.” Step away for even a moment, and the backlog becomes a mess of duplicative, irrelevant, or conflicting updates. And in a crisis, you don’t have the luxury of turning off notifications to focus. The information is constantly changing, and you have to process what's available, recognize what information hasn't come in, know what information has been acted upon, and make decisions about what to do next—all in real time.
This Harvard Business Review article breaks down where “information burden” comes from and how organizations can manage it more effectively. It’s especially relevant for emergency managers, who sit at the intersection of chaos and decision-making. The piece highlights that leaders are the most at risk of overload, which is exactly the group that needs to be clear-headed in high-stakes moments.
Designing EOCs, response structures, and information flows with this in mind is a key left of bang activity to ensure the right information is getting to the right people. Organizations that rethink how they structure communications and situational awareness will tilt the odds of success in their favor, both during disasters and under normal conditions.
Article | How Insider Threats Have Evolved. When people talk about insider threats, they often focus on why someone might turn against their organization. But the real question is: What can you do about it? This article lays out a clear framework for understanding insider threats. It covers the different types of insiders an organization may encounter and why they act—but more importantly, it focuses on practical steps to reduce risk.
While the recommendations are written for cybersecurity professionals, the fundamental principles apply far beyond digital security. Whether you're thinking about physical security, natural hazards, or public health risks, the strategies here are easily transferable.
My personal favorite? Monitoring for behavioral anomalies. Spotting shifts in patterns—whether in network activity, workplace behavior, or decision-making—can be an early warning sign that something is off. But depending on your field, other recommendations in the article might be more relevant to your work. Either way, if you’re responsible for protecting an organization from internal risks, this is worth the read.
For When You’re Ready
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And if you’re thinking about how to strengthen your organization's preparedness, that’s what I do. Whether it’s assessments, planning, speaking, or exercises, I help teams build the skills and strategies to stay ahead of the next challenge.