The beginning of the course I did not know exactly what to expect. As with most of my classes I expected the typical routine write a paper and do discussions class. My expectations were far from what I got from the course. This course was way more intuitive than I expected it to be and I’m glad for that. The class expected more out of you than what I got from other classes I have taken so far. Some of the key things about this course that was different than the others that I have taken was the blogging aspect. The blogging was kind of like a graded journal assignment to me and it was great. In other classes you don’t really get that outlet to just free type and explain your outlook at what the week brought to you. In this class we had more than enough opportunity to express our feelings towards the week’s material.

            Blogging was never something I expected to do or had the desire to do but it was fun as I was doing it. Like previously stated it was like a journal and it helped me actually grasp what I learned in that particular week. The first post I made I was not really sure exactly what to write or how I was supposed to write it. As I’m writing the last one for the course it is beginning to be easy for me to just jot down what is on my mind as it pertains to the course. My creativity with blogging has not grown much since the beginning of the course but I feel that my writing has improved. I have never been the one to be creative in design or anything in that nature, but I think I did an alright job. Now that this is the last of the blogs it is bittersweet, and I may continue to do this on my own in other courses. This has helped me with information retention and i will take what was introduced to me in this class and implement it in my other classes.

I hope everyone finishes their program strong and good luck to everyone!!

When a crisis happens, the whole organization is in a frenzy, sometimes even the leadership. When the stock market crashes, and everything looks bad what does the CEO do? When a small mom and pop restaurant immediately have to find new suppliers and they are running low on product what happens? These are examples of crisis from a small to a big scale and the responses to both must be strategic and effective. When adversity comes to an organization everyone immediately looks at the leadership positions. They ask what we do and how do we fix the problems, as a CEO, manager, or lead you have to answer those questions. In order to answer those question, you have to remove emotion from the situation. Making emotional decisions is not a good idea especially when in distress. Take the time needed to gather thought and ideas before presenting them to the group. Making sound decisions will go much further than rushing to make something happen.

            Crisis prevention is important because things happen and when they do its good to have a plan. Banks most likely have a better plan on how to handle a recession especially after the last one. Banks learned from their mistakes and the next time it happens the government might not bail them out, so they need to make sure they make the proper adjustments to their crisis prevention plans. There are arguments that over planning can be a bad thing, overcompensation when things go can look bad. When there are so many changes that go on in response to something bad that happened, I can see why it looks bad because why were these things not attended to before it happened? It can show a lack of crisis preparation and be a negative to the organization. When 9/11 did happen, every airport made adjustments to their security policies. In my opinion making major changes is not a bad thing.

            Overdoing the security protocols or any kind of crisis management is not operating in a scared fashion but in a cautious one. Making sure the same thing does not happen twice or learning from other’s mistakes is a good thing. Now did the airport security get very aggressive after 9/11 yes, taking into consideration of how big of an event it was its understandable. That event was the wakeup call for many government buildings as well as close proximity businesses. The Exxon oil spill is another disaster than needed to be attended to. Enterprise risk management just needed to be better and I think it has made strides to do so.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.