Want to see intelligent risk management in operation? Dial up the World Health Organization press conference April 29 on CNN or some other site and try to recall any recent political or financial press conference with this level of calm, smart presentation of complex information. .
Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the organisation, took questions from a group of reporters representing news outlets from around the globe and answered them directly. The reporters seemed well informed on the issues and asked intelligent questions, which is not always the case in issues of finance and politics.
The sort of stupid grandstanding, which we have come to expect from politicians, was completely absent from the WHO conference where Dr Chan and two colleagues handed off questions to each other with no signs of camera hogging. Gordon Brown, if he could ever recuse himself from hyperactive imitations of a flipping sardine out of water, could learn a few things from watching.

Near the end, a reporter struggled to ask Chan what the WHO was doing to secure its own staff. Once she understood, she explained this is the WHO’s business:  it takes protective measures but it won’t flee from global health problems. And she reminded the reporters, and the world, that people, especially in poor countries, face medical crises such as HIV AIDS and malaria, which are regularly killing far more people than the swine flu.

This presentation – I almost wrote performance but that doesn’t do it justice – was the most impressive I have seen in ages. I stayed with the entire press conference marveling at how well informed public officials and educated reporters can provide valuable information. The followup commentary on CNN was back to normal drivel: they should have rerun the press conference instead.
Once this pandemic is over, could the WHO lend some of its experts to the FSA, SEC and treasury departments around the world?

Filed under: Technology