The Resilient Journey

Episode 168 - Inside the Trucking & Logistic Company with Colby Varley

This week, for the first time on the Resilient Journey, we are shifting gears and going the extra mile to take a look inside a trucking and logistics company. The goal: to find out what your logistics and supply chain manager should be concerned about.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 168 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by Anesis Consulting Group!

This week we’re joined by Colby Varley, Vice President of Sales and Principal of Advanced Transportation Services – a company that has provided quality transportation of perishable products for over 40 years.

Colby tells Mark what signs you should watch for to let you know if your shipping company might be having problems. He explains how businesses can be better prepared for a supply chain disruption and describes the things that keep him up at night.

Colby’s story is an inspiration of the value of learning every aspect of your business and always doing more than is expected.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

Episode 167: 2025 Crisis Management Bingo with Regina Phelps

Within the first 10 days of 2025, we saw massive wildfires devastate Los Angeles, winter storms disrupt lives across the US and the UK, an earthquake that ravaged Tibet, the resignation of Canada’s Prime Minister and more. What will the rest of the year bring?

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 167 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by Anesis Consulting Group!

This week we’re joined by our good friend Regina Phelps, who helps Mark put together a bingo card of plausible crisis level events that could happen in 2025. The card is available by clicking here. Mark and Regina are using this approach to raise awareness of the vast number of things that we as risk and resilience professionals need to be aware of as we plan for 2025.

Topics include infrastructure, geo-political threats, natural disasters, supply chain, cyber, AI and even diseases. As Regina says, people who aren’t scared to death  , simply aren’t paying attention.

 

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Want to learn more about Anesis Consulting Group or Mark Hoffman? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

  

 

Episode 166 - How to Prepare for 2025, with Dan Bailey

Welcome to 2025! What are your plans as we head into the new year? What do you hope to accomplish?

What risks or threats do you have your eye on?

This week’s guest tells us how to plan out the year, and what to be paying attention to.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 166 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by Anesis Consulting Group!

We kick off the year with longtime Risk and Resilience professional Dan Bailey who covers two main topics in this episode. First, Dan provides valuable insights on how we should plan the work for our risk and resilience programs.

Then Dan tells us about five key risks and threats that we should be paying attention to. And he makes it personal – by giving us advice that will help us advance our careers.

As for the check-the-box mentality, Dan says we should “do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do”.

 

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about Anesis Consulting Group here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

Episode 165 - 2024 in Review

For many the holidays are a time of reflection. And the same can be said for us at the Resilient Journey podcast. That’s why we want to take a few minutes and reshare some of the most memorable and compelling moments of 2024.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 165 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This week we are revisiting seven episodes from 2024. They are either the most popular episodes (in terms of downloads and online listens) or they have a compelling story to tell. We’ll hear from Lindley Gooden, Kristin Torres, Frank Shultz, Regina Phelps, Chloe Demrovsky, Jason Hoss and Mark Armour.

We’ll cover everything from misinformation, to secrets of a good resilience program, good messaging, polycrisis, the perfect elevator pitch and we’ll even discuss if we need business continuity plans.

2024 was a heck of a year. Have a listen.

 

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

Episode 164 - The UnitedHealthCare CEO Shooting; With Doug Farber

On December 4^th, UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was tragically shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel. The incident has raised questions about the adequacy of corporate security protocols. And this week’s guest is a subject matter expert.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 164 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This week we want to talk about corporate and executive security in the light of the tragic shooting of Brian Thompson. We are joined by Doug Farber, CEO of a boutique security consulting company called Horsepower Advisors. Doug and Mark talk about the need for situational awareness, the importance of using predictive intelligence and why security must be something we think about around the clock. Doug explains his all hazards approach to building a security profile, and discusses his use of people, process and technology.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

Episode 163 - When Your Crisis Communications is a "Train Wreck" - With Sean Mallen

In 2010, BP CEO Tony Hayward faced backlash for saying, "I'd like my life back," during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis. His comments are seen as the gold standard of what not to do in crisis communications.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 163 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

We have a very unique episode this week as we are joined by veteran news reporter turned media trainer Sean Mallen, who absolutely grills Mark during a mock press conference. In today’s episode, Mark pretends to be an unprepared company spokesperson facing the media after a very public cyber attack. Early in the episode Sean warns about spokespersons “facing a grilling” and being in for a “hard ride” – and that’s exactly what he gives Mark. Tune in to find out how quickly things can go off the rails.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

 

Episode 162 - Emerging Threats and Third Party Risk with Donna Speckhard

Ronald Reagan’s famous quote, “trust, but verify” captures the balance between faith and caution. It reminds us to value trust while backing it up with evidence. When we think about risk and resilience, this week’s guest tells us the same thing.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 162 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This week we revisit the relationship between risk and resilience by welcoming special guest Donna Speckhard. Donna and Mark talk about emerging threats that you and your organization should consider as we head into 2025. Donna explains how her own diversity of interests helps make her a better resilience professional. Then, she and Mark talk about third party risk and the importance of understanding what our key suppliers have in place in terms of plans, procedures and training.  And, she says “trust, but verify”.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

 

Episode 161 - Video Game Business Resilience Exercises with AJ Leece

This week’s guest takes a very simple approach to a complex problem. He gathers information about your business and then uses gaming software to build plausible threat cases to simulate an attack on your business.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 161 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This week we are joined by AJ Leece, Managing Director of Brekade – the business resilience arcade company that builds software to allow organizations to run complex and informative exercises. AJ tells Mark that our industry fails to understand how people learn and explains his two very popular video games: Phishing Expedition and Incidents and Accidents. Brekade helps organizations understand the impact when people, process or technology fails unexpectedly. And for AJ, it comes down to one simple goal – protecting how your company makes money.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

 

Episode 160 - What's Next? Risk & Resilience After the 2024 US Elections - John Ashford

In what is arguably the best television show ever written, Aaron Sorkin captured the spirit of a White House and a President. The show was The West Wing. The President was Jed Bartlett. The phrase that was repeated over seven seasons was “What’s Next?”. Today, many of us are asking the same thing.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 160 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This is an episode that every risk management, business continuity and crisis management professional needs to hear as we welcome long-term political advisor and crisis management expert John Ashford back to the podcast. John and Mark talk about the pending change in Washington with Republican control of the Oval Office and both houses of Congress. John offers an intentionally balanced view of what’s next – as it relates to tariffs, deregulation, infrastructure and the new administration’s impact on Ukraine and all of Europe.

 

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.

Episode 159 - Program Measurement and Reporting with Stuart Murray

They say you can’t improve what you don’t measure. So what do we do? Maturity assessments? KPIs? Metrics? How do we translate all of this information into an effective story. What does good look like for your organization? Stick around and find out.

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 159 of the Resilient Journey podcast, presented by the Resilience Think Tank.

This week, we discuss  the ‘why, what, when, and how’ of program measurement and maturity assessments with industry veteran Stuart Murray. Stuart emphasizes the importance of telling your story by reporting on what truly matters to your executive team. He explains that simply counting completed BIAs or updated plans doesn’t convey the full picture. Instead, he highlights three key areas of effective measurement: completeness, quality, and compliance. Stuart reminds us that having complete plans doesn’t necessarily mean they are of high quality.

Plus, Mark explores the KPIs that executives prioritize, setting the stage for a future episode.

 

Be sure to follow The Resilient Journey!  We sure do appreciate it!

Learn more about the Resilience Think Tank here.

Want to learn more about Mark? Click here or on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Special thanks to Bensound for the music.