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Lessons for Leaders: Situational Awareness

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I have spent significant time studying the leadership challenges presented by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It started with time spent in the Gulf with my colleague, Dr. Leonard Marcus, in the early days of the spill. It continued with the writing of a case history and then a case study that I co-taught with Rear Admiral Peter Neffenger, USCG, to the most recent cohort of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard. Neffenger was Deputy National Incident Commander during the event.

This article in Disaster Response Journal, co-authored with my NPLI colleague, Dr. Barry Dorn who also spent time in the Gulf with National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, presents some of the lessons learned specific to situational awareness in a fast-evolving incident. It explores how the meta-leadership framework developed at the NPLI can improve situational awareness and thus enhance decision making. Among the lessons:

A COP (common operating picture) ensures everyone sees a common set of facts. This is important. However, each individual will interpret those facts somewhat differently because each person has different experience, expertise, biases, and preferences. That is why the meta-leadership framework begins with the person: having the capacity to be self-aware and cognizant of others’ perceptions, the leader will more accurately comprehend the situation and integrate input from others. Being able to integrate multiple sources of information, both objective and subjective, is central to situational awareness.

Please read the article and share your thoughts and comments.

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Nation’s First Green Restaurant District?

December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It started as a assignment in the Envisioning Sustainable Cities class I took at Lesley University this fall: craft a proposal for a sustainability project for my home city. As a foodie and a neighborhood booster, I had the idea for a green restaurant district in Washington Square. After all, we are home to the Boston area’s first green restaurant — The Fireplace — and many other eateries from take-out to fine dining.

In doing the research for the proposal, I spoke with a number of local people and the idea took on a life of its own. It has been embraced by a number of local organizations as well as the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) which has agreed to certify Washington Square as the nation’s first green restaurant district if 25% of its restaurants meet the GRA’s certification standards. The Green Restaurant District project will be a feature of Brookline’s Climate Week in January 2012.

Why pursue a Green Restaurant District?

-          Restaurants are the dominant business in Wasington Square (20 of 62 storefront businesses are restaurants).

-          Restaurants have a greater impact on the environment than other businesses: on average, they use 2.5x the energy of other businesses, generate approximately 50,000 lbs of waste (95% of which could be recycled or composted), and use up to 300,000 gals of water;

-          The Square already has Boston’s first certified green restaurant here: The Fireplace. Owner Jim Solomon is enthusiastic and says that he saves significantly on his operating costs as a result of adopting environmentally friendly practices;

-          The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) gathered more than 2,000 signatures in Brookline from people who said that they wanted Brookline restaurants to “go green.”

Thus it seems logical: if  Washington Square restaurants  “go green,” they benefit from lower costs while the town benefits from a smaller environmental footprint. And, with the publicity likely to result from becoming the first green restaurant district in the country, more diners will be attracted to the Square giving business a boost. It’s a win, win, win!

Another personal benefit of the project is that it is a chance to move beyond the academic exploration of leadership to the front lines. While the initial enthusiasm from the neighborhood is great, it will take a lot of meeting, educating, and cajoling to make the green restaurant district a reality. And did I mention that I am looking forward to getting to know the restauranteurs better?

I’ll keep you posted. If you are interested in helping, please be in touch.

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Filed Under: Featured Articles, Leadership, Sustainability Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Should Patients Have a Role in Renegotiating the Health Care System?

November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I think that they do but perhaps that’s a radical notion. My co-authors and I were interviewed by NPR affiliate WBUR on the acrimonious negotiations between Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Medical Center. Our view: it would be a very different negotiation if patients were also at the table. After all, they have a stake in this too.

Interestingly, we created a scenario quite similar to this in the “novel” that runs throughout our book, Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration. A battle over money pits a major insurer against a local health system. Each sees the other as the source of pain. Only when they open themselves to see their own role in the problem does it become possible to imagine a new reality in which they both win. We hope that these two real-life organizations come to that same realization.

Please check out the story and leave your thoughts.

Filed Under: Leadership, Thought Leadership, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

More Science May Not Be The Climate Change Answer

October 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

The battle between those scientists who believe in climate change and those who deny it continues to rage. Al Gore recently hosted an around-the-clock web broadcast entitled “24 Hours of Climate Reality.” A “map of climate change denial” was recently published in the New York Times detailing ideological and economics links in “the denial machine.” Deniers are unconvinced and see a vast liberal conspiracy built on shoddy science.

I am a climate change believer. I see it as one of the Pillar Trends that has the power to reshape our world and the way we live. However, I must ask: is the war for truth one that can be won?

In my latest paper, I explore the epistemology of climate change science. My conclusion is that more physical science is likely not the answer.  One must turn to the social sciences to better understand how we learn and come to hold the beliefs that we consider to be the “truth.”

I invite you to download the PDF: ClimateChangeSciencecc and leave your comments here.

Filed Under: Leadership, Sustainability, Thought Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

Ten years ago today I awoke to a call from home insisting that I “turn on the TV!” Like so many others I sat in horror as the World Trade Center towers fell. The difference was that I had been on American flight 11 on September 10 and had been scheduled to fly on 9/11. It happened to be that my trip was moved a day because of when the Jewish holidays fell. Such a mitzvah for a goyem like me.

I had two people who worked for me as well as my client on flights out of New York that morning. There were several tense hours before we ascertained that they were safe. Nothing like the agony of people who had lost friends or family that day, of course, but an intense realization that bad things happen to good people and that much less is under our control than we imagine.

I remember the uncertainty, the need to make decisions about others who were due to travel to join us, and finally to the realization that those decisions were out of my hands. I remember an intense desire to get home.

The lessons I have taken away: be present for every day, take nothing for granted, and make your contributions now for no one knows what tomorrow brings.

Filed Under: Wisdom
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