Crisis Capable: Building Your Capacity to Survive and Succeed in Every Environment, by Fabiana Lacerca-Allen
Refining our powers of observation and ability to quickly assess situations are capabilities that will take us far. But for author Fabiana Lacerca-Allen, these skills were sharpened in her childhood as a matter of life and death.
Lacerca-Allen grew up in Argentina in the 1970s when the country was under military dictatorship. The political views of her father, an influential businessman, put her family in constant danger. She and her sister were made to abide by strict protocols that dictated where they went and with whom. More than once, their acute awareness of their surroundings kept them from becoming kidnapped, if not killed.
Now, in her book Crisis Capable, Lacerca-Allen breaks down key strategies for developing situational awareness that can significantly impact our confidence and decisiveness in various settings — even if we’re not living in a war zone.
To start, she recommends considering how we act while carrying out regular tasks. Are our minds elsewhere, or are we paying attention to our surroundings? She suggests looking for details, such as what people are wearing and how they’re interacting with others. Teaching ourselves to rapidly absorb a setting and notice anything out of place — such as a person wearing a winter coat during summer — enables us to gain an advantage by being one step ahead of those who are distracted or unfocused.
Further, those in leadership positions must train their team to always come prepared. Envisioning scenarios and making a plan in advance is important, but so is being able to make adjustments and changes based on emerging circumstances. Effective decisions can be made despite not knowing all the facts if we’ve trained ourselves to think clearly when events are unfolding quickly, tap into prior knowledge, and trust what our intuition tells us.
Crisis Capable is filled with engaging anecdotes from her early years in Argentina up through her time as a risk management expert in the US that bring to life the importance of anticipating and reacting to warning signs. Lacerca-Allen’s actionable advice will help readers and teams uplevel their crisis capabilities.
Learn more at fabianalacercaallen.com.
Garth Thomas