Even the staunchest social media advocate invariably stresses the importance of planning for the worst through the implementation of social media guidelines and issues management procedures.

As if by design, Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 exploded into the public consciousness and provided the perfect case study on the power and the pitfalls of social media.

Invisible children’s poignant video and call to action led to a collective cleansing of conscience as millions around the globe purchased bracelets and signed online petitions.

The documentary’s YouTube statistics alone are staggering. The video racked up approximately 50 million views in five days and, at the time of writing, has been viewed over 83 million times.

It is an extraordinary example of how quickly an idea can spread in a digital world where people from all corners of the globe are more closely connected than ever before.

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That time of year is once again upon us. The festive season, or more accurately the silly season, is a time of year in which diets, budgets and all too often common sense are thrown out the window.

We have all heard the story of the ‘friend of a friend’ who, having overindulged at the work Christmas party, informed their boss in no uncertain terms just exactly how they felt about his/her management style.  Once the hangover had passed, unsurprisingly the ‘friend of a friend’ found their position at work was less than tenable. Read all…

“Ratings have been disabled for this video.” That’s what Youtube says when you visit the Chasers’ grimacingly funny take on the dis-ingeniousness of Qantas. I really thought many times about the usefulness of this blog piece but, here I go, let’s dive in. Before the post-mortem, let me just state this is not an attack on Qantas. It’s a cry for common sense and honest communication. A warning to all those PR hacks working diligently on ‘key messages’ that are best left to shiny toothed travelling salesman. Read all…

When the first plane hit the World Trade Centre on 9/11, many office workers stayed at their desks. Some made phone calls; some gathered possessions and about 1,000 people took time to shut down their computers. Even those who survived waited, on average, six minutes before trying to save themselves. Why did they move so slowly when their lives were at risk? What made some people turn back into the burning building to save complete strangers? Is it possible that some people are genetically wired to survive disasters? Or can our survival instincts be trained?

The Unthinkable looks for answers to these questions by combining stories of survivors with research into how the human brain works under extreme duress during disasters. This was one book I couldn’t put down (even as I was reading it while wine tasting in the Macedon Ranges). Written by one of my favourite TIME Magazine contributors, Amanda Ripley, her use of story-telling narrative and participatory journalism made the topic of disaster psychology absolutely riveting. What I found particularly useful was her insight into the three stages our brains go through when calamity strikes – denial, deliberation and decision – and how we can train ourselves to fast-track our instincts into making life-saving decisions during an emergency.

I definitely recommend this as a must read for OHS officers and emergency managers. Whether it is preparing a rural aged care facility for bush fire season, or hospital wards for mass casualties, this book urges those involved in emergency management planning to take into account human stress behaviour factors such as human fear circuits and crowd dynamics when designing manuals and drills.