Crisis Management in Remote Environments

18 years ago last week, I left the Royal Marines and moved to Dubai to focus full-time on building Sicuro Group.... Two decades later - operating in some of the world’s hardest places - I’ve been tested, nearly broken, and constantly reminded why this work matters. Here are 20 lessons worth passing forward to anyone building a career or a team in this field: 1. Don’t try to predict every threat. Build systems that can respond to anything. 2. Geography matters. Where you base yourself shapes what you can reach. 3. Experience and judgment are your real moat. Tools only amplify them. 4. Build relationships before you need them. In crisis they become lifelines. 5. Speed saves lives. Preparation enables speed. 6. Conventional models break in unconventional situations. Have alternatives. 7. Trust is earned slowly and lost quickly. In this business it’s currency. 8. Layer your capabilities like body armor. Redundancy protects people. 9. Technology helps, but it doesn’t decide. Judgment does. 10. You only learn crisis management by being where crises happen. 11. Worst-case planning should feel uncomfortable. That’s the point. 12. Duty of care isn’t compliance. It’s a competitive advantage. 13. Integration beats “best of breed.” Unified response saves time when it matters. 14. When lives are at stake, cost arguments disappear. Focus on outcomes. 15. Remote capability multiplies reach. Build systems that work anywhere. 16. Expertise compounds. Each crisis prepares you for the next. 17. Partnerships extend your capability beyond what you can build alone. 18. Document everything. The next crisis will need that record. 19. Cultural competence is operational competence. Ignore it and you fail. 20. Build for the worst case. If it works there, it will work anywhere. But... the lessons aren’t only operational. I’ve been hurt by people close to me, yet shown belief and support by strangers when I needed it most... the world works in odd ways. I came close to bankruptcy - twice - early in my career - valuable lessons about business, and people that could fill a book alone! And... I’ve learned that the better you become, the more you love the job for what it is: solving problems, protecting people, and helping others protect what they care about. There are easier ways to make money, with less risk and more predictability. But this life gives you the best relationships, the hardest challenges, and the opportunities that matter most... and the odd anxiety at airport security! Don’t be afraid to fail. That doesn’t mean be reckless. Take your risks early if you can. Learn fast. Stay curious. Never stop. If even one of these helps someone prepare better....or avoid a mistake I had to make, then it’s worth sharing. SW.

I watched a $2M crisis turn into $10M because no one listened to the junior dev Here’s what I learned about crisis management… For Crisis Teams: • Stop the “senior knows best” syndrome • Create clear incident roles (regardless of title) • Document ALL warnings, not just the ones from leadership • Set up anonymous reporting channels • Build a culture where junior devs feel safe speaking up For Technical Contributors: Your warning signals getting ignored? Been there. • Here’s your tactical playbook: • Document everything (screenshots, logs, timelines) • Build a data-backed case, not just hunches • Find a senior ally who can amplify your voice • Create a clear escalation path before you need it The Reality Check: • Most catastrophic failures start as ignored warnings • Experience doesn’t always equal expertise • Fresh eyes often spot what veteran minds overlook Key Insight: Crisis management isn’t about hierarchy— it’s about creating systems where truth travels faster than trouble. What warning sign did your team miss that later became a crisis? ♻️ Repost this if you want to: • Prevent the next production meltdown • Build psychological safety for your technical teams • Turn junior insights into senior saves And follow Dharma Ramasamy for more workplace insights!

Monday was insane in Spain. ⚡🌑 Barcelona experienced a full blackout: no payments, no hotel access, no light, no mobile network, no internet. For hours, the city stood frozen in complete darkness. No warnings. No explanations. 🚨 It was a powerful reminder: In pharmacovigilance — and across critical business functions — you must be ready. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is not a buzzword. It’s a survival tool. 👉 So what should be in place? ✅ Identify critical processes that must continue no matter what. ✅ Assess risks realistically — not only cyber, but also physical and infrastructure risks. ✅ Set up backup systems: power, internet, access. ✅ Ensure offline access to critical data and documentation. ✅ Train your team: everyone must know the first steps if systems fail. ✅ Test your BCP regularly: not on paper — but in real-life drills. 💬 Monday showed that disasters don’t only happen in unstable regions. They happen anywhere. The question is: Are you prepared? Grateful for another tough but valuable lesson. Let’s build resilience, not just hopes. 🛡️ #BusinessContinuity #RiskManagement #Pharmacovigilance #Resilience #CrisisManagement

Mental bandwidth is everything when it comes to out ability to focus, make decisions or even merely function effectively. When our mental bandwidth is maxed out we can’t even do simple tasks well. This is something the aviation industry are very aware of for pilots. Most of us aren’t commercial pilots though! I’m currently in the Andes in Peru working and climbing big mountains. Bandwidth is so easily used up here. 1) When you arrive in a new/ strange place so much mental energy is spent trying to work out how things work here and 2) on the mountains, at such extreme altitudes you feel foggy and drunk due to the hypoxia you experience. To make good decisions in the mountains you need to be able to do many tasks in your sleep, your rucksack needs to be packed in precisely the right order and you buddy check each other to ensure you haven’t forgotten a crucial step when you’re maxed out. You don’t need to be hanging from ice axes at 6000m to feel this risk though. I see it in cyber incidents and cyber crisis exercises I run for clients. Pressure mounts, the number of plates you have to juggle increases and suddenly you’ll start hearing that familiar sound of hesitation and indecision from people. Their bandwidth is used up. It’s at this point their decision making grinds to a halt and you can end up paralysed in your IR. Here are a few things you can to to help your crisis management teams (or even yourself!): 1) Runbooks / checklists: these are invaluable especially under pressure enabling you to work down a list. 2) Rehearsals: run exercises or walk throughs. This will build a type of brain muscle memory of the key steps you need to take freeing up bandwidth for unique things. 3) Prioritise: pick the urgent things and deal with them first. For example when I went climbing in Kazakhstan last year I felt totally overwhelmed. So I realised I needed to deal with things on a priority basis- just get a SIM card, get the bus to the centre of Almaty and find the apartment. It made it easier to deal. Same for cyber incidents, what do we have to deal with now? Deal with the other things after. Remember humans are at the centre of any incident. Your Gold, Silver and Bronze teams are humans. Think about how your plans and playbooks could be simplified and more useable under extreme stress and low amounts of mental bandwidth. Your response will be better for it. Here are some pics from Peru! Happy Monday!