Issue Archive: May/June 2009

Zombie Attack!

     A real risk? Maybe not, but there are actual lessons to learn from this fictional threat. And using a zombie attack as an exercise scenario or the kick-off for a brainstorming session might help make business continuity cool (gasp!) or even fun for change.

     “Zombie Attack: Applying Business Continuity Professional Practices to Attacks by the Undead” was a surprise hit at the 2009 Continuity Insights Management Conference, with speaker Scot Phelps (see pages 8 and 34) receiving rave reviews for his session based on the New York Times bestseller World War Z. The talk was especially timely as the book’s zombie outbreak was the result of a virus.

     World War Z’s basic premise is that the world is overrun by the undead. They don’t bleed, breathe, or think. They don’t plan. They aren’t organized. They are a threat but don’t target anyone personally. They just want to eat flesh. To kill one, you must destroy its brain. The zombie outbreak begins in China, which tries to keep mum and control the spread. That, of course, fails miserably, the virus spreads worldwide, and most countries (including the U.S.) also fail miserably in their response, moving slowly, getting hung up on politics, and relying on familiar tactics rather than fresh thinking.

     “Everything in World War Z is based in reality...well, except the zombies,” says author Max Brooks. “But seriously, everything else in the book is either taken from reality or 100 percent real. The technology, politics, economics, culture, military tactics... it was a lot of homework.”

     That homework helps the story ring true despite its ridiculous nature. And Phelps believes there are important lessons to be learned and applied to any crisis situation, including:

• The government is “usually lying,” says Phelps. Have your own, independent information sources.
• The government will always favor short-term public order over long-term solutions to problems. “If people are taking things into their own hands, the government is threatened. They want you to be a passive lamb and do what they tell you to do,” says Phelps. The problem is that message is in direct contrast with the theme of every action movie ever made. Action movie heroes are the rebels, the renegades, “the guys who don’t obey the rules in order to get the job done.” And that’s a doozy of a mixed message.
• In a pandemic, border control and quarantine probably will be ineffective. “Have you ever tried to sneak into Canada?” asks Phelps. “There are thousands of miles of unsecured border and a couple hundred check points. It’s not hard.”
• We aren’t very good at predicting the future and are especially vulnerable to low probability, high impact threats, since addressing these typically requires imagination and innovation. Says Phelps, “It’s the unknown unknowns that are going to get us.”
• We talk about all-hazards planning, but almost no one really does it. “We don’t actually say how we are gong to achieve resiliency across our organization. We create hurricane plans and pandemic plans,” he says.
• People will do anything to help their loved ones, even break the law. If your organization plans on enacting policies that directly impact people and their families, make sure they are realistic. The test? Ask “What would I do if this was my family?” Chances are if you’d break the rules, others would too, Phelps says.
• There is no magic bullet (Tamiflu is not a “pandemic plan”). In fact, according to Phelps, Tamiflu stockpiles may be useless against the next pandemic and avian flu is resistant to the drug, as was last year’s flu. “We’ve spent billions of dollars on something that might work or might not,” he says. “You can’t rely on one thing. You have to employ multiple strategies.”
• The ability to get out in front of the problem is a predictor of success. In World War Z, Israel took decisive action early on, which paid in the long run. Phelps warns organizations against waiting for public health officials to take the lead. “They are not very good at getting ahead of the problem, and they don’t like making things mandatory. If you’re going to rely on the government to control a serious illness, you’re in trouble.”
• Your plans must be highly adaptable, and traditional tools may prove useless. In the book’s Battle of Yonkers, soldiers with the latest in modern technology were decimated by zombies. Weighed down by bulky gear and trained to shoot for the chest, they were ill-prepared to move fast and dispatch zombies with precise head shots.
• Your business strategy must be flexible enough to be re-invented. “If everyone’s a zombie, you’re not going to sell a lot of widgets,” says Phelps. “Many people fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the businesses they work for. Ford doesn’t sell cars, it’s a financing company that could just as easily sell motorcycles or Segways. You have to have an understanding of what your business really does and how you can reinvent that quickly.”
• After a disaster, it takes way longer to get back to normal than you think. “Look at New Orleans and Manhattan.”
• Your best chance to make change happen is when people are scared. “When do executives pay attentino to BCP?”
• Give the zombie message a chance. “Even if people are paying attention because it’s silly,” says Phelps. “They’ll still be better prepared.” CI

The Undead Online

The Internet is home to a thriving zombie subculture. Before you dismiss the value of zombie preparedness web sites, ask yourself how many of your internal business continuity or local emergency preparedness sites have thousands of active users debating the merits of preparedness strategies and tactics. Sure, the scenario is silly, but the exercise is productive. Here are a few of the top zombie sites:

World War Z Official Site

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/index2.php

If you had lived through the Zombie War, would you have survived? This site offers an online risk calculator to determine what your survival odds would have been, based on a series of questions about you, your lifestyle, your skills, your location, and your flight options.

The Zombie Preparedness Initiative

http://ww2.zombieinitiative.org/

Here you’ll find a knowledge base provided by a community of citizens concerned about zombie invasion. Organizers “hope to help people prepare for the very real threat that we shall face when zombies show up and governments have not taken the time to prepare.”

The Zombie Squad

http://zombiehunters.org/

This site provides “trained, motivated, skilled zombie extermination professionals and zombie survival consultants,” whose goal is to “educate the public about the importance of personal preparedness and self reliance, to increase its readiness to respond to disasters such as earthquakes, floods, terrorism, or zombie outbreaks.”

BCP Book Club

Here’s a novel idea. Try forming a BCP book club in your organization. Start with World War Z or The Zombie Survival Guide (also by Max Brooks) and then take suggestions. There are plenty of books (and movies for that matter) to spark and sustain a meaningful and enjoyable discussion of planning and preparedness.