In the December issue of C3, we covered the first three ideas for your crisis planning and preparedness this year. Here are three more:
4. Expect social unrest to be recurring, not episodic
Protests, polarization and community-level tension are now structural factors. Crisis planning should map protest-exposed locations, anticipate workforce impacts, and prepare messaging for heightened emotions and misinformation attached to civic movements.
5. Strengthen resilience to extreme weather and signal confusion
Climate-driven events are happening faster and hitting harder, but public alerting systems and trust in official guidance are increasingly strained. Crisis plans should emphasize redundant data sources, localized early warnings and exercise scenarios where alerts are late, inaccurate or contradictory.
6. Treat emerging technologies as both enablers and threats
AI, cyberattacks, drones, energy disruption and future quantum risks are converging, making digital issues spill rapidly into physical and reputational crises. Plans should integrate cyber-physical scenarios, infrastructure dependencies, and technology-driven continuity planning, including power and data reliability.
Bottom line
2026 crisis readiness isn’t about predicting the exact next crisis—it’s about preparing for messy, fast-moving disruption that spans physical, digital and reputational domains. The essential shift for organizations is moving from verification before action to careful action while verification continues.
