Preparing for a crisis is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven this. You know the odds are high that your company will suffer, or has experienced, a disaster or crisis. You cannot say you weren't ready; today's extreme public and government scrutiny demand that you should have been prepared. MIT's Crisis Management & Business Resiliency course will help prepare you for the inevitable.
Course Overview
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 — from the experts involved with these efforts. We also examine strategies for job and career improvement. You will have the opportunity to interact online 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 continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management program. This includes the course manual (e-files), templates, and current articles. You will gain valuable contacts, have plenty of online networking opportunities, and acquire insights for immediate implementation.
Participant Takeaways
- Presentations by and discussions with industry and government leaders/subject matter experts
- Current status of issues that affect you and your organization
- Online 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
- MIT Professional Education Certificate of Completion
- Upon completion, course graduates will be eligible to enroll in the MIT Professional Education Advanced Business Resiliency course.
Who Should Attend
This course is for the Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, and Crisis Management practitioner or responder as well as for the executive who oversees these disciplines. Other staff who would benefit from this course include corporate executives, directors, and staff from IT/MIS, Environment Health & Safety, Risk Management, Public Relations, Human Resources, and Security. This course is also suited for federal, state, and local government officials and Emergency Managers.
Both novices and experienced personnel will benefit greatly from this course. If you cannot go, tell your director/executive so he/she can attend to better understand your complex profession.
Program Outline
This 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 – with an emphasis on the COVID-19 Pandemic – 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 an optional participation crisis simulation in which participants take active roles in a simulated disaster, including a realistic news media briefing.
Notes:
- Course days generally run from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM EDT, with generous breaks and optional networking time included.
- Topics, speakers, and schedule are subject to change.
DAY ONE – Monday, July 19
- Welcome
- Faculty Introductions
- Course Information; our Online Experience
- Student Introductions
- Virtual Student/Faculty Reception
- Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis, Sandra Galletti (MIT)
- Crisis Management & Business Resiliency Overview and Issues
- Dr. Steve Goldman, MIT
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY TWO – Tuesday, July 20
- Business Continuity Laws, Standards, and Metrics
- Don Byrne, President, Metrix411
- Case Study: From aircraft incidents to the Pandemic
- Penny Neferis, Director Emergency Response & Care, JetBlue
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY THREE – Wednesday, July 21
- Cyber Security Update and Recent Events
- Abel Sanchez, MIT
- Working with the FBI on Data Breaches and Terrorism
- FBI Special Agents TBD
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY FOUR – Thursday, July 22
- Supply Chain Management: Before, during, and after a crisis
- Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Director, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics
- The Adventures of Taking the World’s Largest Retailer through the Great Unknown and Beyond!
- Andrea Davis, Senior Director, Global Emergency Management, Walmart
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY FIVE – Monday, July 26: The News Media, Social Media, and Your Crisis
- Newspapers/Radio/Websites
- Joe Sciacca, Editor-in-Chief (retired), The Boston Herald
- Television/Visual Media
- Howard B. Price, NBC-TV News Editor and Producer
- Social media issues and crisis response
- Dr. Rick Reed, Social Media Program Manager, Intel Corporation
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY SIX – Tuesday, July 27
- Emergency Preparedness & the Dimensions of Meta-Leadership
- Eric McNulty, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard University
- Industry Trends: Impact on your program and your career
- Cheyene Marling, President, BC Management Inc.
- Day’s Review; Faculty/Student Networking
DAY SEVEN – Wednesday, July 28: The COVID-19 Pandemic
- Pandemic Update
- Dick Larson
- Pandemics: Where we have been, where we are going
- John M. Barry, World-Acclaimed Pandemic Author/Historian
- Pandemic Response/Lessons Learned
- Ian Waitz, MIT
- Representative from US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Others TBD
- Leadership Insights for the BC Manager
- Steve Goldman
- Course Review, Final Thoughts
- Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis, Sandra Galletti
DAY EIGHT – Thursday, July 29: Virtual Crisis Response Simulation
- Virtual crisis response simulation
- Course instructors present an online realistic simulation of an unfolding, multi-incident crisis. Participants take active roles as facility, corporate, federal agency, local agency, news media, or other responders to manage and recover from the events. These events, including hazmat leak, workplace violence, and cybersecurity events.
- Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis, Sandra Galletti, Howard Price, Joe Sciacca, Don Byrne, others
- Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Lou DiBerardinis, Sandra Galletti, Howard Price, Joe Sciacca, Don Byrne, others
- Course instructors present an online realistic simulation of an unfolding, multi-incident crisis. Participants take active roles as facility, corporate, federal agency, local agency, news media, or other responders to manage and recover from the events. These events, including hazmat leak, workplace violence, and cybersecurity events.
