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3  Hallmarks of a Resilient CEO ⢠Knows risks, hazards, and time horizons ⢠Plans proactively for what-if scenarios ⢠Balances risks and costs in capital decision-making ⢠Maintains an owner mentality Introduction During your tenure as the CEO of a DOT, you will face many challenges, including some that will have serious impacts on your state populationâs mobility and safety and, possibly, on your tenure. Many of these challenges revolve around the resilience of the transportation systemâhow well your system can withstand disruptions from natural causes and catastrophic failures of the infrastructure or cyber events and how quickly your agency can restore services when they are affected. Appendix A offers some of the many current definitions of resilience that relate to transportation. The public and political leaders expect DOTs to have plans and take actions to prevent or minimize disruptions and respond quickly when necessary. The good news is that you are not alone. Your people have a great deal of wisdom and experi- ence. Your organization has resilient systems and response plans. Your peers are tackling similar challenges. The information presented here has come from the experiences of many with varied natural or human events. CEOs across the country in every region contributed to the Primer. Their input was gathered through one-on-one interviews and at roundtables conducted during AASHTO regional meetings. Their quotes appear unattributed in the margins throughout this report. Their collective knowledge, coupled with information from case studies and research, is offered to assist you in meeting your challenges and making your agency more resilient. This Primer provides a quick grounding in the benefits of resilience, the CEOâs role in resilience, and approaches taken in various states to increase the resilience of the transportation system. It is designed to give you concepts and tools to lead your agency toward greater resilience, given the many variables specific to your agency. Chapter 2 of the Primer is an overview of the significant role a CEO has in resilience; it includes key questions to help you succeed and describes challenges you may encounter along with approaches DOTs have used to address them. Chapter 3 provides information on how to inte- grate resilience into your agency; it delves a bit deeper into the specific realms of your agency, such as planning, design, engineering, and O&M, with examples of what DOTs are doing in each. Four appendices provide additional resources and references. Wherever you are on your way toward resilience, the Primer should help you better under- stand and think more deeply about the opportunities and challenges. Engage with your peers on resilience to share your experiences, make use of their replicable successes, and learn from their disappointments. Resilience thrives on conversation and collaboration. C H A P T E R 1
