Nevis Premier – Joseph Parry
Charlestown, Nevis
April 23, 2009
Premier of Nevis, the Hon. Joseph Parry gave brief remarks at the Crisis Communication Workshop held Tuesday at the Occasions event hall.
Numerous persons from the various media houses on the island, Non-Government Organizations and civil servants participated in the workshop which was organized to sensitize the need for research, accuracy and crisis management during a disaster.
Participants who attended the session were exposed to topics such as identifying and differentiating between a crisis and an emergency, developing appropriate actions at the five stages of a crisis, the components of a crisis communication plan and conducting a risk inventory.
In reminding the participants about the importance of their roles, the Premier stated that management of a crisis requires good leadership. He went on to say that a good leader is one with initiative, which is absolutely important to work out a positive outcome.
“Leadership requires a cool head and many understand the negative events that can happen when panic kicks in; although some persons work better under pressure. Many Caribbean leaders have showed cool heads and West Indians have been great leaders in the field of business, sports and politics because of their calm character. Leadership requires coordination, delegating and giving people the opportunity to do things on their own and to have things done in a certain direction for a common goal,” said Mr. Parry.
While revealing leaders who exemplified great leadership during a crisis, the Premier discussed his opinion of former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
“Mr. Churchill had a very clear mind and he knew what he wanted to achieve. Even when Britain was under siege, Mr. Churchill prevailed and he was very brave for the people of Britain. He has gone down as a great World leader, great communicator and a man with a cool head,” said Hon. Joseph Parry.
The Premier also referred to the recent lay off of workers at the Four Seasons Resort as one of the most recent challenging situations in Nevis. Mr. Parry said the layoff could have been a disaster if the government did not speak out early and inform workers about the imminent lay off. This, he said, was a strong demonstration of doing what is expected of an individual in a leadership role.
“Wasn’t it the responsibility of the government to speak to the people and tell them the truth and tell them to be prepared? Well it was done by me and my government and we thought it was the right thing to do,” said the Premier.
The workshop was facilitated by Bob Berkowitz, a former Senior White House Correspondent for CNN, host of the highly rated CNBC show “Real Personal” and Mark Mershon a former Federal Bureau of Investigation officer.
Both gentlemen are with the Dilenschneider Group out of the United States.