Mastering Risk

Send us Fan Mail I’ve written at length over the past few months about the political and economic crises that looms over the world, the jaxapositioning of nations to find their place in the new world order and the likely impacts on populations. This polycrisis is longitudinal, will continue until 2032 and has many more hands to play, which makes it that much more difficult to predict the next move...

Send us Fan Mail Comfort feels great, easy and simple. But as the old adage proves, success and opportunity are found outside your comfort zone. For several decades Canada has chosen to be complacent, comfortable and dormant. We’ve lost our way, from a nation of builders, adventures, explores and innovators, to a couch potato collection of dependasaurus and whiners. We wanted a better world, we ch...

Send us Fan Mail Governments are a finicky thing, often maligned, never understood and staffed by a host of individuals who the population generally views as unproductive and inefficient. These views are present whether you are a libertarian or socialist, we the omnipotent citizens believe there is substantial and unchallenged waste and pork barrelling throughout our governance systems. Cue DOGE....

Send us Fan Mail We often bemoan the loss of the Boomer's dream, single family income that pays for a home, vacations and earns a nice retirement pension to enjoy time with grandchildren. Those were wonderful times, but that was only possible with an economic system that supported that life. That ship sailed, those economic models do not exist yet many still try to correlate life in 2025 with...

Send us Fan Mail What can you do to insulate you and your family from the effects of tariff decisions by foreign governments? The intent of this episode is to outline why the US government is making this decision, the rationale for nations to adopt organic production regimes and how these economic pivots affect your life.  We all are exposed to risk, based upon the employment we choose, the locati...

Send us Fan Mail Communities are only as strong as their connections, our sense of belonging and place is what ties us geographically and to membership in wider organizations. In our cities and towns populations exist that draw a disproportionate amount of resources in an emergency, but are omitted from planning considerations. Often, the emergency management team simply is unaware of the agencies...

Send us Fan Mail Bluster, ideological idiocy and a host of other hot air producing commentary is drowning our social media and semi-professional forums. Like all issues, everyone is now a trade expert, understands international treaties, exceptions and can provide a detailed rationale for this and the next iteration of team A or B. Whether we launch a war on trade, resources, ideology, cultural ap...

Send us Fan Mail Rinse and repeat, repacked or polished, increased volume or new influencers - all methodologies leveraged by the public sector in attempts to convince the population that their preparedness communications are accurate, helpful and should be adopted.  I’ve spent over a decade examining this very specific phenomenon, what I refer to as “ public sector resident-facing preparedness co...

Send us Fan Mail There are a few sources to lead us to a conclusion, the first being our legislation. As this is local to national, and to some degree multilateral and multinational, we codify our intent in laws that are geographically bounded. The state EM legislation governs the roles and responsibilities of the field in that state, with no influence or authority over the neighbouring states. In...

Send us Fan Mail Whenever the deliverable from a public sector agency fails to meet expectations, there are two general causes. First, is the most likely, that the expectation of the target audience was outsized or inconsistent with the actual legislated and funded mission. We see this in ad hoc interviews and formal press conferences, where a resident or mayor states they thought the response wou...

Send us Fan Mail Humans are tribal, we are a species that thrives in the collective, where individual skills are amplified by the resources and assistance of others. Throughout our known history, we’ve been organized into different groups for specific purposes, whether that be family, relational, cultural or fulfilling our basic needs. Classically presented as the Dunbar number , named after a not...

Send us Fan Mail “ The global order is under revision ”, likely the most understated quote from a series of interviews surrounding the inauguration of the latest US President. The events of the past 48 hours and the weeks to come will to the best of every pundit’s ability, be tied to the new leader of the free world, whether you’re a supporter or detractor.  The reality is that, as I’ve written be...

Send us Fan Mail The point is vacations matter, to disconnect and repair. The mind and body are finite tools for life, they are our mot important resource, the key to our success and the reason we’ll exit. I’ve learned that when I say I’m gone, to be gone. So this year, I pre-recorded all the podcast episodes for Inside My Canoehead , wrote a few Substack articles and prepared notes for my return....

Send us Fan Mail We traditionally think of preparedness as a function of natural disasters, where we ready for storms and events that may cut off the critical infrastructure for days. When we think about economic preparedness, it is often the gateway conversation to understanding that the phenomenon extends to political, economic, cultural / ideological and familial crisis as well. Your family&apo...

Send us Fan Mail Doomsday Preppers was a series on TV, the reality is that much of what was on that program was scripted for show, those individuals were not that crazy. However, much of the modern impression of preppers is grounded in the idea that they are disconnected from reality, they hate government, love guns, want chaos and basically want to see the world burn. The truth is that preppers a...

Send us Fan Mail Whether or not we like it, we all age. We might be caring for a loved one, an extended family member, or we are co-located in high density housing with seniors. There are real issues as we age, from physical mobility, cognitive decline, climactic control, evacuation, cyber crime and overall health. Preparedness is individual specific, hence there are concerns related to your trife...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the new year, a time when we regularly burden ourselves with unrealistic expectations, near impossible goals and set ourselves up for failure. A totally expected and avoidable situation.  Maybe there is another way, a different methodology to review the past year, to consider what occurred, how it went, what you might have done differently and do so with kindness.  Star...

Send us Fan Mail Our holiday series continues with a discussion on thriving, a definition and exact process to follow. The current government communications message of have a kit, make a plan and be informed is grounded in a 30+ year old Cold War mentality of within 72 hours you'd either be saved by the government or there is no government.  In today's modern, technologically enabled soc...

Send us Fan Mail Over these holidays, it is always a blessing to reflect on the year, what was and was not successful, take stock of life, be grateful and thank someone for helping us along the way.  This series is designed to entertain over the holidays, to lighten the load of political and economic harm, to provide some time to ponder your preparedness journey. In preparedness we often take this...

Send us Fan Mail Post pandemic, we reflect on the state of our healthcare systems, public health and preparedness education. Are they ready for the next plague and what are those efforts that would contribute to a set of better post event outcomes.  There are consistent calls for additional "investments or strategic incentives", AKA more taxes on the population, to build the robust capac...

Send us Fan Mail It is often stated that we are the most connected, yet loneliest generation. We hold in our hands a device that has access to the entire knowledge base of our species, the ability to call anyone on the planet and to send and receive information across all mediums. Yet we don’t know our neighbours, we are increasingly less tied to our communities and our sense of identity is less l...

Send us Fan Mail Who and what is a preparedness guy? Nat Sellers is a passionate emergency manager with his own podcast, diligently plowing away at the bureaucracy and the barriers to building a resilient community. His efforts and ideas will keep you glued to the speaker, this is likely the first of many conversations. Our goal is to provide a broad swath of opinions, ones that support and those...

Send us Fan Mail It is not that the population sees preparedness as unnecessary, but when associated as a cost element for a family, most are choosing to maintain more realtime budgetary requirements. Preparedness is future proofing, supper is today. If we correlate a cost to preparedness, we create an offramp, the easy button to choose not to adopt a prepared life as it is outside our current eco...

Send us Fan Mail Public sector governance contains a relative scant level of review, not in the form of annual budgetary allocations, but in colloquial terms, a “fit for purpose” analysis. I’ve written before on the outsized level of bureaucracy , which at the origin, was likely created in times of need, to benefit the public. We’re often quite good at ameliorating sudden onset issues with program...

Send us Fan Mail Ongoing discourse in the international media is largely focussed on the incoming US administration. Not simply for their choices for key positions, but to ascertain the intent behind the bluster, what is the goal of reorienting the economics and relationships of the world’s superpower. Again, for the folks in the back, this is about knowledge, not opinion. The goal is to be part o...