Webinar: Resilient by Design

Resilience-the capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of change-is a characteristic of all living systems. Human communities are remarkably resilient as is proven when a city can completely rebuild after catastrophic events. In contrast, engineered systems such as machines and structures are generally more "brittle" and prone to failure.

Joseph Fiksel, Island Press author and Executive Director of the Sustainable and Resilient Economy program at The Ohio State University leads the discussion. He provides in-depth look at enterprise resilience, the critical success factor in the ability of both business and communities to survive, adapt, and flourish in the face of natural disasters and unforeseen supply chain disruptions.

Fiksel's new book, Resilient By Design, offers insights into why workforce leaders need a new business paradigm. This paradign needs to integrate a view of the built environment, ecosystems, and the social fabric, while recognizing new business opportunities that result from this shift. By necessity, innovative communities are learning to behave more like living systems-sensing, responding, and adapting to change. For example, IBM has worked with the city of Rotterdam to deploy advanced cyber-based methods for flood detection and control.

Moderator Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), brings an extensive background in energy and environmental policy at the state and local levels. She and Joseph demonstrate the importance of resilience across business and municipal communities, and how all leaders can move beyond the business-as-usual approach in order to thrive in the 21st century.

This webinar describse basic principles of resilience, with real-world examples, and shows how resilience is essential for long-term sustainability of social and natural capital.