«18 seconds»: the Linate tragedy.
27/10/2023 Patrick Trancu
18 secondi. La strage di Linate.

«18 seconds»” is a 4-episode podcast that retraces the Linate air disaster which claimed the lives of 118 people. 18 seconds are those that elapsed on October 8th, 2001 from the time of the impact between a Scandinavian Airlines plane taking off on the main runway and a Cessna at Milan Linate airport and the …

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How to make crisis management “smarter” and “faster”
30/09/2023 Patrick Trancu
Neural networks

“How to make democracy faster and smarter” published by Simon Kuper in this WE’s edition of the Financial Times reinforced some of my thinking on how we need to craft more complex organizations, mimicking neural networks, to manage 21st century systemic and polycrises.  The reality is that – at the State level – we continue to manage …

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Crisis hits while cooking spaghetti with clams
23/09/2023 Patrick Trancu
Keep calm and don't panic

Companies that approach crisis management seriously choose to undertake ongoing crisis preparedness programs. It is with these companies that it is a real pleasure to work. Not only because a relationship of trust is established but above all because, year after year, one can tangibly see the progress. Then there are times when – professionally …

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CEOs personal misconduct plunge organizations into crisis
18/09/2023 Patrick Trancu
Bernard Looney

Too often CEOs’ personal misconduct leads to their ousting and plunges organizations into crisis often ending with the demise of the company. “For decades, the main reason chief executives were ousted from their jobs was the firm’s financial performance. In 2018, that all changed. Misconduct and ethical lapses occurring in the #MeToo era are now …

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CEOs, magical thinking, and reputational crises
15/09/2023 Patrick Trancu
Reputational crises

A few days ago Jonathan Hemus shared a post on the importance of preparing (not planning) for “reputational crises”. A straw poll conducted during a conference organized by his company Insignia – Crisis Management Consultancy showed 68% of organizations in the room had never exercised such a scenario. In an article published in this WE’s Financial Times appropriately titled …

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AI applications in disaster management
14/09/2023 Patrick Trancu
Artificial Intelligence and disaster management

AI is very quickly finding its way across industries and activities. While calls to regulate it continue to be at the forefront of the public debate across the globe we explore how AI tools can be used to manage complex events such as disasters. However, as the recent events in Morocco and Lybia demonstrate, a …

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Lessons from the Fukushima disaster
23/08/2023 Patrick Trancu
The Days on Netflix: what happened at the Fukushima nuclear plant

It was March 11th, 2011 when an earthquake followed by a powerful tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on the coast of Japan. An accident classified as “catastrophic” on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, on par with Černobyl. One of the best ways to learn about crisis management is to study someone …

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Wait for an A.I. catastrophe
30/05/2023 Patrick Trancu
Are we facing an AI black elephant?

“Wait for catastrophe” is the catchy title of this AI Axios newsletter worth reading. Except it might already be too late. Global regulation of AI is becoming imperative. The AI industry is not calling for it, it is shouting for it. AI founders seem to have caught up to the intrinsic dangers of the technology …

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Adopting an editorial policy in the age of A.I.
28/05/2023 Patrick Trancu

Reading recent articles and using AI tools has led me to reflect on the need to formulate my own editorial policy. And be fully transparent with my readers. In the closing paragraph of a recent article on AI published by The Economist, Noel Harari wrote «We have just encountered an alien intelligence, here on Earth. We …

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