Surface Ripples

Power Out

How prepared are we for even minor inconveniences, let alone major disasters? I’ve just seen a post by a friend in Australia about the power going out in their street and the reactions are what I can only describe as “First World problems”. 

Comments like:

It has come back - funny how we take so many things for granted!

I was in the midst of a zoom meeting which kept losing connection due to the hotspot! Then on the phone before the lights came on! Too funny 😂 can’t believe how much we depend on our utilities!

Same in [name of neighbourhood] ...we were out for an hour only, so got to cook dinner still once it came back on.

… we had to get takeaway and all panicking - uni assignment due etc.

Power cuts are the norm in some countries and areas and people deal with them.  Yes, it’s inconvenient if we lose electricity just as we’re cooking dinner, or in the middle of uploading an assignment to our university portal, but it’s not the end of the world as we know it…

Earlier this year, I wrote about my experiences as a young child growing up in Karachi in the 60s.  Both my parents had grown up during the years of World War II (my father spent his teenage years as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese in China) and were used to “inconvenience”.  We had supplies in the house “just in case” and knew what to do.

Again, I ask, “What have you got in the house in case you lose power?” (say for 12 hours, a day, two days)? Can you:

• Light the house at night?
• Prepare a hot meal?
• Perform basic personal hygiene functions?
• Stay cool/warm depending on the season? 

It doesn’t cost much to invest in a gas-powered camping stove, candles, a few battery- or solar-powered lamps and suitable clothing.  We can buy tinned foods and detergent for washing clothes by hand at the supermarket.  Heat can be obtained from fires (if you have an open fireplace at home) or, if you need to cool down, from battery-operated fans.  Camping heaters are available, but these are often designed for use only in well-ventilated environments or outdoors.  We can ow buy rechargeable batteries in common shapes and sizes along with solar panels to charge them.   

The more ambitious could invest in a generator to power lights, heating/air-conditioning and refrigerator.  Power cuts were common enough when I lived in The Bahamas in the mid-2000s that those who could had generators that turned on automatically when mains power went down.  In the UK, my father bought a generator after the “great storm” of 1987 (and, ironically, never needed it after that).  Remember though, buying a generator means servicing and fuel costs as well.

So, all we need to worry about is that half-cooked dinner, the assignment that we were uploading when the power went off, or the Zoom conference call that was interrupted.  Mobile phones can be turned into temporary “hotspots” (assuming the power to our Internet Service Providers is still there) until we can get through the task in hand. 

It’s all “small stuff” compared with what some go through as part of everyday life, but our “one-stop shopping” world has made us complacent.    

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 08:59