Future Proof your Career
The theme for Education Month 2022 is ‘Future Proof Your Career.’ If Business Continuity is your chosen profession, then I firmly believe that you should embrace it, and make sure that you keep up with the latest trends and thoughts.
If you are happy to work 9-5 and do no extra work or reading outside that time, then perhaps you should consider another profession in which you have more interest. I am very passionate about business continuity, its allied professions, and I spend a lot of time learning and reading, probably more than most! However, I strongly feel that if you find something you are reasonably good at and enjoy, why not try and be the best you can at it? For Education Month, I thought I would share some of the ways I keep myself up to date.
Google Alerts
I think these are a brilliant way to give you a list of the latest news in the business continuity world. I, of course, don’t look at everything the alerts bring up, but it does highlight new articles and posts on the internet over the last 24 hours.
My alerts are:
- Cyber Incident Management
- Incident Management
- Operational Resilience
- Business Continuity
- ISO 22301
I think you have to take people's achievements and bragging with a pinch of salt, but again it’s a great way to gain information on the different conferences people attend, new documents that are published, and in-depth details of incidents. LinkedIn is also quite good for competitor analysis, as you are able to see what companies are selling, and often who they are selling it to, just by looking through their posts.
Podcasts
If you have to commute to work or have a long journey to make, a really great use of that time is to listen to podcasts. At the moment, I am listening to the story of the Aberfan Disaster, a coal spoil tip that happened in Wales in 1966 and killed 114 people, most of which were primary school children. It was a little harrowing to listen to on the bus on the way to work, but there are some really good lessons to be learned and lots of interesting contrasts to the Grenfell Fire, which I have also listened to in podcast form. Below I have listed some of the podcasts I recommend, they are all BBC Sounds unless otherwise indicated:
- Aberfan: Tip Number 7
- The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Podcast
- When the Dust Settles (Aftermath of Incidents) by Lucy Easthope
- Things Fell Apart (Comms) by Jon Ronson
- So You've Been Publicly Shamed (Comms) by Jon Ronson
- The Hack That Changed the World (Cyber)
- End of Days (Waco Siege)
- The Lazarus Heist (Cyber)
Films and Videos
I am not that keen on films and videos, but I think sometimes they are a useful way to see what Hollywood makes of disasters. I am presently watching the Netflix documentary series ‘Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet’.
Books
I love buying books, however, I often read the first few chapters and then get bored. I sometimes wonder if the books aren’t written well or if my attention span isn’t great. Whenever I read a book mentioned on LinkedIn or get given a recommendation, I put them on my Amazon wish list straight away. If I ever win the lottery, then expect a box of about 60 books to be delivered to me. At the moment I have to put up with them being delivered to me every so often. My last five bought and partially read books are:
- Crisis Counsel: Navigating Legal and Communication Conflict by Jaques PhD, Tony – Good stuff on crisis comms.
- Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Voss, Chris – A bit self-help but some interesting insights on hostage negotiation.
- Black Propaganda: In the Second World War by Stanley Newcourt-Nowodworski – Couldn’t get into it.
- Cyber Wars: Hacks that Shocked the Business World by Arthur, Charles - Some useful case studies.
Training, Seminars, and Conferences
I love a good case study and presentation. With the world opening up after COVID, I think there is a pent-up demand for getting out and meeting people. Have a look at the BCT catalogue of courses, there is always something new for you to learn! However, if you like consuming information and learning, I think the most important thing is that you keep moving forward with your knowledge!
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About the author
Charlie Maclean-Bristol
Director, BC Training Ltd
Charlie Maclean-Bristol MA (Hons), PgD, FBCI, FEPS, CBCI, MCIPR
Charlie Maclean-Bristol is a Business Continuity, Cyber Incident Management, and Crisis Management consultant with over 30 years' experience in the industry. He has founded two successful companies: an independent resilience consultancy, PlanB Consulting, with his wife Kim, and a certified training services provider, Business Continuity Training (BCT), with his brother Lauchlan. In May 2024 PlanB Consulting was acquired by Databarracks and he remains in the company as a Director and continues to deliver consultancy.
His first experience of contingency planning, training, and incident management was as a Captain in the King's Own Scottish Borders, where he spent three years implementing patrols and anti-terrorist operations on active service in Northern Ireland. After leaving the Army, he joined Anglian Water as their first Emergency Planning Manager, followed by Scottish Power as the Business Continuity Manager. He then worked for a short time for two consultancies before setting up PlanB Consulting in 2007.
Although now senior in the profession, he has a very hands-on approach to business continuity and, as a Business Continuity Institute (BCI) approved trainer, regularly delivers training as part of BCT's public business continuity training courses, including the CBCI course. In his role at PlanB Consulting, he has delivered consultancy on six different continents to a diverse list of public and private organisations.
Charlie is a former BCI board member and one of the very few Fellows of both the Emergency Planning Society and the BCI. He is a multiple award winner, and his awards have varied from 'Business Continuity Consultant of the Year' to 'Lifetime Achievement Award.' In 2023, he was awarded the BCI Global award 'Business Continuity and Resilience Volunteer' and was inducted into the BCI Hall of Fame.
He holds a PgD in 'Emergency Planning and Disaster Management' from the University of Hertfordshire. He is also a visiting lecturer and teaches Resilience, Continuity, and Crisis Management as a Module Leader at Glasgow Caledonian University to MSc and MBA students in South Africa and London.
Charlie has contributed to the profession by being involved in writing the last four editions of the BCI 'Good Practice Guidelines,' developing several BCI public training courses, and a cyber incident management course certified by the National Cyber Security Centre. He is a regular speaker at conferences, writes a weekly blog on all things business continuity, and has appeared on TV and radio several times. He has had several papers published in business continuity and emergency planning journals and has written a book entitled 'Business Continuity Exercises: Short Exercises to Validate Your Plan.'
