Part Two…. And the Coup Goes on….

The coup situation has become even more grim:

• Air travel out of the country is very limited; the airport has been closed for a few days

• It is uncertain when the airport will reopen

• Outbound communications are minimal; you are able to make a few local calls, including to a US Consulate employee staying at your hotel

• Communications with your office have been impossible for the past few days; the coup leaders physically cut the communications lines

With the ticket situation scarce, you and a team member go to the airport to buy the tickets there. You are first in line but somehow it still takes hours to buy the tickets. At the adjacent airline’s ticket window, a near riot breaks out in a stampede to get tickets. Fortunately, just a glare and some M-16-assisted shoves by the soldiers quiet the crowd in seconds—but you are edgy and nervous with about 60 people behind you shoving you up against the ticket counter. Four hours later….

Success! You have your tickets to leave! Finally, you call your office to give them the good news that you have secured seats on the second flight out of the country. But wait—your Regional Manager [located in another foreign country] orders you to stay in your current location for an extra day or two, and then go in the opposite direction to a different country; otherwise, his budget will show a variance. But what of the risks in remaining in a hostile environment? What of the ongoing and additional risks to your team and to the sensitive information you have? Unfortunately, he’s not concerned with those risks and orders you to get tickets to go to the alternate location.

The Operations Manager is NOT happy when you inform him of the change in destination. He now must arrange for and accompany you to the office’s travel agent located in the heart of the battle zone. The agent prepares the tickets and you are ready to leave—but wait!-- the manager is not authorized to sign for the air tickets—but his secretary is! However, he cannot ask the secretary to come into a battle zone controlled by tanks and armored personnel carriers. You call your office and explain the situation to the Regional Manager, but he thinks you are making up the story. Grudgingly, he agrees to speak with the Operations Manager who confirms the circumstances and explains the situation to the Regional Manager as well. Finally, the Regional Manager agrees to let you take the original flight—but threatens that you will be responsible for the budget variance). You and your team finally go to the airport the next day and do take the second flight out of the country and arrive at the new location (not in the United States) about 3:30 a.m. local time.

More to come...

Last Week’s Quiz Question:

What Vermont family is known for producing Olympic ski champions and runs a low cost ski hill behind their home?

Answer: The Cochrans of Richmond, Vermont.
http://www.cochranskiarea.org/history.html

Winner: Glen Calvo

This Week’s Question:

How many gallons of sap does it take to produce a gallon of maple syrup?

The winner receives a GPS with alarm feature that sounds when you have overshot your airport.

Send your entries to: jorlando@norwich.edu

You're Drab

The hood color for the MSBC gown has been chosen and the winning color is--get ready--drab. This is the recognized color of business.

I was originally thinking fuchsia with a hot pink liner and perhaps aqua highlights, but I guess that drab would work as well.

Perhaps we could come up with a new name for this color. Any ideas?

I would also be interested in hearing about heroic events involving drab. Was the color worn by Napoleon? Was it the first color to climb Mount Everest? Did drab ever save a baby from a burning building?

Most importantly, I want to get inside the mind of drab and ask: Who (or what) is drab? Is drab hiding any secrets? Are their skeletons in drab's closet?

Why did drab choose this moment in history to appear? Does drab have anything to tell us, or do we have something to tell it?

Does drab consider itself "just a color," or a whole movement, and perhaps a way of life?

Risk Management During a Coup

By John Mason

Many employers have overseas locations; a former employer of mine does. My team was at such a location conducting an audit when a violent and bloody military coup occurred; so now there’s a new government, right, in the far-off capital with most of the same rules? Yes and no. Most of the rules do seem to be the same but with a few additional ones (e.g. the person pointing the M-16 or AK-47 at you wins the argument). Too, the coup has started in YOUR location, just a few blocks away—and now the Operations Manager storms into the conference room to tell you that they are not sure how to get you back to the hotel, since the parking lot is halfway between you and the battle zone. They discuss the possibility that they will have to make you walk on the roof to get to a different part of the building while they try to bring the car.

Eventually (miraculously?), the staff gets you back to the hotel. You’re safe—well, at least until army trucks arrive at the front of the hotel and disgorge about 50-100 troops. Surprise! The coup leader has decided to stay at your hotel tonight! Visions of restaurant servers and housekeeping staff taking up arms in a counterrevolt dance through the air. And what of the confidential information stored in your briefcase or computer? Is someone going to search your room and seize it? Should you delete the work and hope for the best or do you wait it out to see what will happen? When will the coup leader leave? What are the chances of getting out safely?

Risk. Yes, we hear about it, work with it, and handle it most every day, whether consciously or not as we go about our jobs and work with others. Yet, how does one handle or address risk when it’s up close and personal? Sometimes there are a variety of choices, and other times there does not appear to be any alternative to the current solution set (though with the latter, I fully subscribe to the empty set being a set and thus an alternative). The process of “thinking outside the box” or “putting oneself outside the box” is frequently much harder than it seems when the risk is staring one in the face (and fear, buried or on the surface, is a factor as well).

To be continued….

Last Week’s Quiz Question:

Name either of the two Vermont towns that is also the name of a foreign capital (Note: Moscow, Vermont is not a town, just a location).

Answer: Athens, Berlin

Winner: Gil Verney Jr., who won an Information Assurance Practitioner Beanie Baby.

This Week’s Quiz Question:

What Vermont family is known for producing Olympic ski champions and runs a low cost ski hill behind their home?

The winner receives A Norwich University t-shirt with the message “My mother went to Residency and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”

Submit all answers to John Orlando at jorlando@norwich.edu