Best-selling author of Promote the Dog Sitter: And Other Principles for Leading During Disasters
Seattle, WA
Joined February 2023
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Perhaps the most popular line from my talk today at the Washington State Emergency Management Conference:
“Emergency managers are the Golden Retrievers of public safety. They'll coordinate with everybody, they'll partner with anybody, they’ll deny help to nobody.”
Polishing notes for a Tuesday keynote at the Washington State Emergency Management Association Annual Conference. A good group, doing good work, and facing down some big challenges. Themes: disasters, destruction, demands and leadership, optimism, and hope.
Cruising back into Seattle from the Sound. Zero fish caught. Didn't matter. U of W crew in training. Fine September day.
Edward L. Conley retweeted
George W. Bush's chief of staff, Andy Card, now 79, can never forget.
"That day I knew I needed to be cool, calm, and collected, and help the president," Card said. "I told him, ‘A second plane hit the second tower; America is under attack.’”
“That was the moment that he realized what the real job of being president was.”
cbsnews.com/news/remembering…
From the Southwest this week
Helped facilitate a tribal wildfire seminar for @npsCHDS and FEMA Region 9.
Received this partnership coin.
Honored
Emergency Preparedness Month seems, I don't know, lackluster and largely irrelevant…
Boring, repetitive, uninspired public lecturing. Unwillingness to share frightening risk realities. 30 days w/o power, anyone?
And let's be honest. How many EMs practice what they preach?
Edward L. Conley retweeted
An interesting article about the potential problems and issues that can arise from using early warning/alert systems.
kut.org/crime-justice/2026-0…
It links to some of the issues that @Conley1Edward @brataas @DannyStoneking and I covered in this paper
academic.oup.com/edited-volu…
Edward L. Conley retweeted
The laziest and most counterproductive emerging political tendency is to attribute every failure to "messaging".
Thinking about AI and EM. Have three checklists I’m developing.
1. All the things you can use AI for.
2. How to use AI effectively (good prompts, define problem/outcome, strengths of different platforms).
3. How to manage AI risks, vulnerabilities, and limitations.
Edward L. Conley retweeted
You are not alone
Planners look several seasons ahead and it was clear that 2025 would feel all sorts of uncertain. That was why I wrote this book. I wanted people to feel less alone and like there were ways to live alongside permacrisis. We do this together ❤️ #ComeWhatMay
When evaluating incident lessons learned, run them through the coordination, communications, and planning/operations triad.
You’ll likely discover opportunities for improvement in each.
Edward L. Conley retweeted
3 things we’re getting wrong about disasters in America
thehill.com/opinion/energy-e…
Here’s a crazy idea.
Every September we encourage public action during National Preparedness Month.
But how many of us do what we say?
I’d love to see stories about how EMs are personally prepared so they’re professionally ready when disaster strikes. Be the example.
Edward L. Conley retweeted
20 July 1969: U.S. #astronauts Neil #Armstrong and Buzz #Aldrin make the first manned landing and take the first steps on the #Moon during the #Apollo 11 mission. Their steps were carried on live TV. #history #HistoryMatters #OTD #ad amzn.to/2CRe6Ri
“Thought Leader”
See this is a lot. Seems overused.
I'm no longer clear what it means.
Leader for Action?
Just, “Leader?”
What’s a suitable replacement for
“Thought Leader?”
Edward L. Conley retweeted
💯
Provide a shared situational awareness (common operating picture) + clear set of incident objectives (commanders intent)
And then turn everybody loose (while keeping 👀 on)
👇🏽
I have a crisis management theory:
The more you try to control, the less control you have.
To actually gain control of a situation, coordinate more, delegate more, push decision-making to the lowest level possible, and ask for help.
Edward L. Conley retweeted
Day 7 of #WOR2025 discusses how the lessons of past incidents can strengthen decision making on today’s fires.
We honor of the #StormKing14, who lost their lives 31 years ago on the #SouthCanyonFire.
nwcg.gov/6mfs/week-of-rememb…
#WeekOfRemembrance #WOR2025 #NeverForgotten
