What questions might a leader might face on a difficult morning? In this special podcast series, Marc Duncan, Bridgett Lee-Young and Scott Pickett of Salus Solutions, explain one useful idea for a variety of corporate professionals such as corporate risk and compliance leaders, anti-bribery and corruption professionals, and then demonstrate how that idea changes a decision. This podcast is also for police and fire chiefs, emergency managers, finance and operations executives, CEOs, boards, and leaders of commercial, public, and private organizations. Over the next 4 weeks, we will be running this special series.
In this Episode 4, we move from hazards to gaps. We consider SalIntel’s clarification of what Riverbend can and cannot say about reports and asks leadership to interpret operational implications. The panel distinguishes hazards, weak points, and consequences/response capability, emphasizing resilience planning that focuses on actions when disruptions occur regardless of cause. Mark describes collecting and validating intelligence, applying a THIRA-style approach to prioritize core capabilities, converting signals into actions, assessing resource constraints, and exercising plans via tabletop tests. Using Kerr County floods in 2025 versus 2026, they highlight how improved alert amplification and reliable cell service reduced loss of life, underscoring the need for crisis communications with backups. They discuss evaluating evacuation routes and infrastructure risks, CFO decision-making by gathering cross-functional input and validating it with numbers, defining “urgent gaps” as likely risks without workarounds, and noting assessments identify gaps but leaders must fund, assign ownership, and document residual risk decisions.
Key Highlights
- “What is the practical difference among a hazard, a weak point, a consequence, and the ability to respond?”
- “How would Riverbend examine a loss of communications without assuming whether the cause is weather, error, misconduct, or something else?”
- “What would a CEO, emergency manager, and fire chief each need to know about who might be affected and how quickly?”
- “What should we test before saying that our backup plan is a real capability?”
- “How does SalTHIRA examine existing strengths as well as gaps?”
- “How would you explain a meaningful gap to a CFO who must choose among competing investments?”
- “Where does a preliminary Protection Advisor result end, and when is a more detailed professional assessment warranted?”
- “What would make one gap urgent even if it is not the most dramatic scenario in the room?”
Questions for Our Listeners: If your assessment exposed a serious gap today, who could authorize a response, spend money, and accept the remaining risk—and where would that decision be recorded? Next time we tackle the decision.
About Salus Solutions: “Salus helps organizations understand what matters, make informed protective decisions, and carry them into action. SalCAPA is the method and coordination environment that connects those steps.”
Salus Solutions is the sponsor of this podcast series.