Crisis Management & Business Resiliency

This comprehensive course provides up-to-date assessments and knowledge on issues that affect you and your organization — the COVID-19 Pandemic, cyber security, supply chain, leadership, data breach, communications, news media, social media, government response — from the experts involved with these efforts. We also examine strategies for job and career improvement. You will have the opportunity to interact with our lecturers and with your peers from industry, academia, and government.

By the end of the course, you will have the tools, knowledge, and understanding to benchmark, assess, and improve your business resiliency, disaster recovery, and crisis management program. This includes the course manual (PDFs), templates, and current articles. You will gain valuable contacts, have plenty of networking opportunities during and after class, and acquire insights for immediate implementation.

COVID-19 Updates

We fully expect to resume on-campus Short Programs courses during the Summer of 2022. However, the possibility remains of ongoing disruption and restrictions due to COVID-19 which may require that the course be delivered via live virtual format. Please read more here.

• Presentations by and discussions with industry and government leaders/subject matter experts
• Status of issues that affect you, your response, and your organization
• Interactions with peers from academia, industry, and government
• Lessons learned from multiple case studies
• Course manual e-files
• Various templates for your immediate use
• Current articles by industry authors
• Official MIT Professional Education Certificate of Completion
• Upon completion, course graduates will be eligible to enroll in the MIT Crisis Course Alumni LinkedIn private group
• Course graduates will also be eligible to enroll in the MIT Professional Education Advanced Business Resiliency course

Program Outline

This dynamic course offers an effective combination of lecture, case studies, and class participation activities conducted by knowledgeable and experienced instructors who are leaders in their fields. Case studies of actual crisis situations are used to emphasize and enhance the concepts. Several interactive class activities provide additional hands-on experience. Participants can also practice what is learned: the course concludes with a highly interactive crisis simulation in which participants take active roles in a multiple event crisis, including a realistic news media briefing.

Notes:

• Course days generally run from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM EDT, with generous breaks, lunch breaks, and much networking time included.
• Topics, speakers, and schedule are subject to change.

DAY ONE – Monday, July 25

• Welcome and Introductions
  • Faculty Introductions
  • Course Information
  • Student Introductions
    • Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis, Bhaskar Pant, Suzanne Blake (All MIT)
       
• Crisis Management & Business Resiliency Overview and Issues
  • Dr. Steve Goldman, MIT

• Business Resiliency Laws, Standards, and Metrics
  • Don Byrne, President, Metrix411

- - - - Lunch - - - -

• Jet Blue: From Aircraft Incidents to the Pandemic and Beyond!
  • Penny Neferis, Director Emergency Response & Care, JetBlue
     
•  Small Organization Resiliency
  • Mark Carroll, Income Research + Management, Inc.

• How to Speak, Eat, and Drive like a Bostonian!
  • Steve Goldman, MIT

Class and Faculty Reception, MIT Samberg Center

DAY TWO – Tuesday, July 26

• IT / DR: Trends and Technology
  • Stephanie Balaouras, Forrester Research
     
• Supply Chain Management: Before, during, and after a Crisis
  • Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Director, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

- - - - Lunch - - - -

• Cyber Security Update and Recent Events
  • Abel Sanchez, MIT
     
• Emergency Preparedness & the Dimensions of Meta-Leadership
  • Eric McNulty, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard University

Duck Boat Tour and New England Lobster (or other) Dinner

DAY THREE – Wednesday, July 27

• At the FEMA Federal Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC)
  • Local / Hazmat Planning and Response
    • Bill Van Schalkwyk, Groton MA FD and Harvard EHS
       
  • State Planning and Response
    • Allen Phillips, MA Emergency Management Agency
       
  • Federal Planning and Response
    • John McGough, US Dept. of Homeland Security

- - - - Lunch and Facility Tour - - - -

• Working with the FBI on Data Breaches and Terrorism
  • Special Agents Brian LeBlanc and Doug Domin, FBI
     
• Crisis Simulation Briefing
  • Steve Goldman, MIT

DAY FOUR –Thursday, July 28

The News Media, Social Media, and Your Crisis: What We Are Going to Do to You!

• Newspapers/Radio/Websites
  • Joe Sciacca, Editor-in-Chief (retired), The Boston Herald
     
• Television/Visual Media
  • Howard B. Price, Network TV News Editor and Producer
     
• Social Media Issues and Crisis Response
  • Dr. Rick Reed, Social Media Program Manager, Intel Corporation

- - - - Lunch - - - -

• Pandemic Update and Lessons Learned
  • Dick Larson
     
• Pandemics: Where We Have Been, Where We Are Going
  • John M. Barry, World-Acclaimed Pandemic Author/Historian
     
• Pandemic Response/Lessons Learned
  • Dr. Ian Waitz, Vice Chancellor, MIT
  • Dr. Paul Biddinger, Massachusetts General Hospital

Case Study

• The Adventures of Taking the World’s Largest Retailer through the Great Unknown and Beyond!
  • Andrea Davis, Senior Director, Global Emergency Management, Walmart
     
• Open Discussion – all topics and issues

DAY FIVE – Friday, July 29

• Industry Trends: Impact on Your Program and Your Career
  • Cheyene Marling, President, BC Management Inc.
     
• Leadership Insights for the BR Manager
  • Steve Goldman, MIT

Crisis Response Simulation

• Crisis Response Simulation
  • Course instructors present a dynamic simulation of an unfolding, multi-incident crisis. Participants take active roles as facility, corporate, federal agency, local agency, news media, social media trolls, or other responders to manage and recover from the events. The scenario incorporates hazmat leak, workplace violence, and cybersecurity events. It ends with  a realistic news media briefing.
    • Steve Goldman, Lou DiBerardinis, Howard Price, Joe Sciacca, Suzanne Blake, others

- - - - Lunch - - - -

• Course Review, Final Thoughts, and Graduation!
  • Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis

Also included with your Registration:

• MIT Professional Education Crisis Course ID on MIT lanyard
• MIT Professional Education Tote Bag, Notepaper, and Pen
• Course Attendee Roster
• 15% Discount to the MIT/Harvard Coop Campus Store (https://store.thecoop.com/ )
• Campus and local area information, guides, and maps
• Access to MIT Gym facilities
• The following meals/refreshments:
  • First Morning Coffee/Tea/Water/Juice
  • Mid-Morning Break (e.g., bagels and fruit, coffee/tea/juices)
  • Box Lunch (multiple selections with drink)
  • Mid-Afternoon Break (e.g., Cookies! Fruit!)
  • Thursday afternoon break – make your own Ice Cream Sundae!
  • Monday Evening Reception
  • Tuesday Evening Lobster (or other selection) Dinner*
• Tuesday evening DuckBoat Tour (https://bostonducktours.com/ )*
• Optional Tour of MIT Sunday July 24 or Friday July 29*
• Book by Lecturer Eric McNulty “YOU'RE IT: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most”
• Book by Lecturer Yossi Sheffi “THE NEW (AB)NORMAL: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19”
• Seminar and lessons on how to speak, eat, and drive like a Bostonian!
• Many networking opportunities
• Access to speakers before, during, and after the Course
• Class picture
• The much-sought-after MIT Crisis Course Mug!

Also – bring your family! While you are at MIT, they can explore a world-class city and local area with many important historical sites, great shopping, excellent dining, available transportation networks, PLUS visit the many colleges and universities that New England has to offer.

*Bring your family (space available)!

Links and Resources:

Commentary: The Digital Stairway to Heaven, Black Churches and the Pandemic, Black Enterprise, February 14, 2022

This course is designed for professionals who work in Business Resiliency, Disaster Recovery, Cyber Security, Emergency Management, Crisis Management, or Crisis Communications.

Participants who will also benefit from the curriculum also include:

• Corporate executives/directors who want to enhance the efficacy of their organization's business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber security, crisis management, and crisis communications programs
• Federal, state, and local government officials who need to assess and improve their department's crisis management planning to better protect and serve their constituents
• Human Resources and Legal professionals who are looking to understand the potential impact and response of certain threats on their organization's workforce
• Anyone interested in acquiring knowledge and understanding to create, assess, or improve a business resiliency, disaster recovery, cyber security, crisis management, or crisis communications program. 

Office hour sessions will be held several weeks after the program, providing the opportunity to ask in-depth questions after you have had a chance to reflect on the course material.