Managing Uncertainty

Frontier AI models can now find exploitable vulnerabilities faster than any human research team, and attackers have that capability today. In Episode 335 of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath introduces the AI Storm, a scenario of concurrent zero-days with exploitation beginning within hours of disclosure. He explains why the threat environment your continuity, incident...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal and Chief Executive Bryan Strawser shares a personal story. Over the past year, alongside leading Bryghtpath, he completed paramedic school and seven months of clinical shifts on a 911 ambulance in the Twin Cities metro. What he learned riding to 180 patients changed how he thinks about resilience. Bryan walks through five l...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser digs into new research on how CEOs really view their marketing leaders. The numbers show trust at a five-year high while 60% of CEOs call the function overhead. Bryan argues resilience leaders live the same contradiction, with an even harder problem: being graded on disasters that didn’t happen. Brya...

Most resilience policies are either a mission statement with a logo or a forty-page plan wearing a policy’s name tag. Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath recently reviewed a global company’s business continuity policy that failed four of ISO 22301’s six requirements. Nowhere did it require anyone to exercise anything. In this episode, Bryan explains what a resilience policy actually is: the three-to-five...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal and Chief Executive Bryan Strawser explores the role of corporate strategy in building an effective resilience program. Most business continuity programs can recite their RTOs and plan counts but cannot articulate the company strategy. Bryan explains why that gap leaves organizations protecting yesterday’s business. Drawing...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath examines the single largest variable in whether a resilience program succeeds. It is not the framework, the tooling, or the number of plans. It is whether a senior leader owns it. Bryan walks through four things strong leaders do that weak sponsors never will. They align the program to the business, clear the politic...

On this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath examines why some resilience programs survive a change in leadership and others quietly fall apart. The deciding factor is rarely the quality of the plans. It comes down to business alignment and whether the program’s champion understands that alignment is the point. Bryan makes a contrarian case: a strong champion c...

Most resilience programs don’t fail because the plans are wrong. They fail because capable leaders make the work more complicated than it needs to be, and never tie it back to the business. In this episode, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath explains the complexity tax and why “adding rigor” usually makes things worse. Bryan walks through the five ways good leaders overcomplicate resilience. A structure...

Most resilience programs don’t fail because the plans are wrong. They fail because capable leaders make the work more complicated than it needs to be, and never tie it back to the business. In this episode, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath explains the complexity tax and why “adding rigor” usually makes things worse. Bryan walks through the five ways good leaders overcomplicate resilience. A structure...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser breaks down the dangerous fallacy of the “IT-only” crisis. When your cloud provider goes down at 9:14 AM on a Tuesday, the resulting chaos—from broken point-of-sale systems to dark warehouses—isn’t a technical glitch; it’s a total business failure. If your CEO’s only move is calling the C...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser explains why a clean compliance audit and a resilient organization are not the same thing. Compliance proves what you did in the past. Resilience is what you execute under pressure in the future. Bryan walks through why a 300-page binder is no substitute for rehearsed leadership, with les...

Your business continuity program was built for one crisis at a time. That world is gone. In Episode 325 of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser of Bryghtpath unpacks the polycrisis and why concurrent, compounding crises break the programs most organizations rely on. Bryan walks through the ten threats driving the polycrisis era and the four places where legacy programs fail under concu...

Bryan Strawser challenges a common but damaging leadership instinct: the urge for executives to take over and micromanage during a crisis. He explains that this kind of performative leadership creates bottlenecks, slows decision-making, and undermines the expertise of the crisis team when speed and clarity matter most. Strawser emphasizes that effective crisis leadership requires nuance—balancing...

In Episode #323: The Fog of War, Bryan Strawser explores the reality leaders face in the first moments of a crisis—when information is incomplete, conflicting, or entirely absent. Drawing on his experience during the Boston Marathon manhunt, he emphasizes that waiting for perfect information is a losing strategy; leaders must act decisively based on what they know while clearly acknowledging what...

Six weeks into 2026 is the right moment to pause and assess whether your resilience program is aligned with how your organization is actually operating today. In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser challenges leaders to revalidate their risk landscape, critical process priorities, and crisis readiness before the year accelerates. Early-year course correction is far eas...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser explores how Chief Risk Officers and resilience leaders can develop the next generation of risk talent—by focusing on business fluency as a core leadership capability. As the risk function continues to evolve, technical excellence alone is no longer enough. The most effective leaders are those who can translate risk into strategic...

In this episode, Bryan Strawser explores how resilience and business continuity leaders can effectively champion their programs by communicating with influence. He outlines how to keep executives informed, explain the real business value of your program, and share meaningful metrics that demonstrate progress. Bryan also discusses the importance of storytelling and using impact-focused communicatio...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath CEO Bryan Strawser shares lessons from a recent week of paramedic skills training. As he practiced high-stakes procedures like IV insertions and airway management, Bryan was reminded of a fundamental truth: repetition builds muscle memory—and that muscle memory saves lives. This insight directly applies to how we approach crisis manag...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath CEO Bryan Strawser explores why resilience leaders must have total command of their own programs to maintain credibility and influence. When executives ask pointed questions about recovery time objectives, critical processes, or current risks, hesitation or vague responses can quickly erode trust. You don’t need to recite every line o...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser explores key insights from Forrester’s 2025 report, Building a Security Org for the Future. Bryan breaks down how cybersecurity leadership is shifting from tactical execution to strategic influence—where CISOs are now expected to lead through credibility, relationships, and alignment with...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser, Principal and Chief Executive at Bryghtpath, explores key insights from the 2025 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report. He discusses how modern adversaries are behaving more like high-speed startups—leveraging generative AI, identity compromise, and sophisticated non-malware tactics to scale attacks quickly. With breakout times now av...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser, Principal and Chief Executive at Bryghtpath, unpacks the key findings from the 2025 National Risk Study by Deloitte and NEMA. This nationwide assessment reveals the stark realities facing state emergency management agencies—rising disaster complexity, funding challenges, workforce gaps, and outdated systems. Bryan explores why th...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser explores the operational, reputational, and strategic risks organizations face when a major cloud provider like AWS experiences an outage. Bryan breaks down why most companies are underprepared for large-scale cloud disruptions and what executive leaders must do differently to ensure cont...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser explores how to design and lead effective crisis or continuity exercises with your Board of Directors. These sessions are often filled with hesitation, but when approached with clarity and strategic framing, they become a powerful opportunity to build influence and drive alignment at the...

In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryan Strawser walks through ten high-impact crisis scenarios that organizations should prioritize in their tabletop exercises for 2025. From cyber extortion and data exfiltration to executive malfeasance and misinformation, these scenarios are drawn from real-world threats affecting the world’s leading companies. Bryan outlines how each scenari...