The Importance of Self-reflection in Emergency Management: A Thoreau and Sartrean PerspectiveI had a great conversation with a few of my colleagues about why we chose the field of emergency management. As the night went on, we discussed how we have seen "the great burnout" of emergency management professionals over the last few years. Our profession is not the only one that is suffering. There has been the "Great Resignation" and the "Quite Quitting" that has been occurring since COVID.  People are looking for a better work-life balance. https://emnetwork.substack.com/https://emnmedia.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

I came across an article about an innovative leader Carl Braun. What interested me was his approach to communication. Braun believed that the way people communicated was a reflection of their thought processes. To change how someone thought, they needed to change how they wrote and spoke.Many people make the mistake of writing to sound intelligent rather than writing to be useful. This approach can significantly diminish the impact of one's message. The more difficult it is for people to understand, the less likely they are to engage with the message.https://emnmedia.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

Sitting in front of the computer, thinking about what I should write about for this week's EMN Round-Up, I put on one of my favorite Jazz albums, Miles and Monk, at Newport Live 1958. This LP is an essential listen for everyone alive today! Jazz, in essence, is a group of very talented musicians, each a master of their instrument, coming together; they may have a set list, or they may not. They play off each other's strengths, and somehow, without any sheet music or a conductor, they produce a fantastic piece of music. (If you don’t like jazz, you can find the same type of collaborations with the Grateful Dead or Phish.) Jazz music can teach us much about disaster response, as both involve improvisation, collaboration, and adaptation to changing circumstances. Here are a few ways in which jazz music can inform disaster response:Links https://emnmedia.com/https://emnetwork.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

If I wrote a piece about planning for a pandemic in April 2019 and warned you that communities needed to be ready for social distancing, supply chain issues, and a run on toilet paper, you would have thought I was crazy. After 9/11, critics stated that one of the problems emergency managers have is a failure of imagination. So, today, we need to discuss geopolitics. As tensions continue to rise between the United States and China, and with China's aggressive stance towards Taiwan, it is becoming increasingly important for communities to prepare for the possibility of war. While the prospect of a world war may seem far-fetched, the reality is that it is always possible, and history has shown us the importance of being prepared.https://emnetwork.substack.com/https://emnmedia.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

2023 looks set to be another turbulent and unpredictable year, with various new stressors and challenges facing individuals, teams, and organizations. From economic uncertainty and political volatility to technological disruption and environmental crises, many factors could impact the well-being and performance of teams in the coming year. Investing in understanding your team's strengths and motives, building more trust with authentic communication, having a clear set of well-being goals and showing care are more important than ever.https://emnmedia.com/https://emnetwork.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe