On June 25, the Council on Competitiveness hosted a wonderful event in Washington, entitled Resilience Day. Te event included a CEO Summit on Capitol Hill, a newsmaker luncheon at the National Press Club and carried on C-SPAN, and an afternoon symposium held at the Department of Commerce. I believe this event can be seen as a watershed event in the adoption of the resiliency paradigm in corporate America.
The CEO Summit was significant in that it garnered the direct participation and leadership of Mr. Chad Holliday. CEO of DuPont. Mr. Holliday’s obvious engagement with the resiliency issue and the project conducted by the Council on Competitiveness lends great credence to the resiliency cause. Joining him were senior executives from leading companies and acadmic institutions like AT&T, Oho State University, and FM Global. The message was not lost that the event was held on Capitol Hill, but was clearly an Industry led addressing of resiliency. Government has a role, but I personally believe it is more observing and encouraging at this moment in time. Industry should seize the lead, like it did at this symposium.
There were no answers or great revelations during the conference— not to those of us who have been in the midst of resiliency discussions over the past few years. What was of note was the lack of dissenting viewpoints on resiliency. I suppose this could be considered general acceptance of the concept. It was also interesting to note that there are numerous variations on the theme of what resiliency means and what ought to be done about it. And there are more questions than there are hard and fast answers—at this time.
The Resilience Day events drew a large and diverse audience of business leaders and practitioners who were treated to great discussions and some practical advice. I would certainly encourage the Council on Competitiveness and other thought leading institutions to sponsor more such events.
Yes resiliency at the personal, family, education, health care, corporate and community level MUST become a part of our every day communications and process.
Posted by: Michael H. Ballard | 24 August 2007 at 08:46 AM