Extreme Weather & Your Business: Build Before the Storm ft. Rachael Gauthier (IBHS)

If your business was hit by a major weather event tomorrow, would you actually be prepared—or would you be figuring it out in real time?

For most of us, resilience only becomes real once it becomes personal—once there’s damage, disruption, or a direct impact on operations.

In today’s conversation, I’m joined by Rachael from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety—IBHS—to unpack what’s changing in the risk landscape, and more importantly, what you can do now to stay ahead of it.

We talk about expanding tornado risk, why hail is one of the biggest hidden drivers of loss, and the practical steps businesses can take to strengthen their buildings and reduce downtime before disaster strikes.

So if you’re responsible for protecting people, assets, or operations, this is one you’ll want to pay attention to.

Please join me in welcoming Rachael to the show.

*

[Host: Lauren Scott] Welcome back to another episode of The Resilience Report. This is going to be a really interesting take for our listeners, because in the past, we’ve spoken to some entrepreneurs and business leaders who had to be resilient in the face of extreme weather patterns. But today, we’re actually going to be talking to somebody who better understands how we can prepare as both people in our day-to-day lives, as also professionals in our own businesses, when it comes to these severe weather patterns. So with that, I’m really excited to welcome Rachael to the show.

[Guest: Rachael Gauthier] Hey, Lauren, thanks for having me so much.

So, as we’re talking about severe weather patterns becoming more and more prevalent for businesses, are there any things that leaders should be listening to when it comes to the risk landscape itself?

Yeah, it’s really interesting. We’re seeing some of the same areas continue to see the storms that they’ve always seen. Tornado Alley across the Midwest of the U.S. is one of those areas that’s been known as Tornado Alley, but now we have a secondary tornado alley across the southeastern part of the U.S. So we’re seeing that area really expand, and we see often more violent, more long-track tornadoes.

Overnight events across the Southeast are pretty common as well. So that’s kind of a new and different thing that’s changing. And in addition to that, we have what we call the bullseye effect happening as well. So we see population growth shifting from different areas. So a lot of businesses, for example, have relocated from California to places like Texas and Atlanta and Nashville, major metropolitan cities in the Southeast.

So we’re seeing more businesses and commercial buildings being built in those locations. We’re seeing the people relocate for these jobs and build homes in these areas. So we’re seeing more structures in the path of these areas that are now increasingly vulnerable to severe weather, so that’s really kind of an interesting thing I think a lot of people maybe don’t think about. So when you have more buildings in the path of these storms, that equals higher dollar amount, and then the number of insured losses, and of course, more damage for homeowners and businesses.

So that’s a really unique aspect. Hail is another big one. Severe convective storms, so what we just call thunderstorms that can produce tornadoes, high straight-line winds, or hail, we refer to those as severe convective storms as a whole. But from those, that’s one of the biggest loss weather makers that causes losses across the country. But out of that, actually hail on any given year accounts for roughly 60 to 80% of those losses. So hail is super damaging as well, which I think a lot of people, what comes to mind is the scary things like tornadoes, but hail is actually a really big driver of losses.

Well, it’s interesting that you mention companies having these competing priorities, so maybe those who are relocating from California to Texas, I’m going to guess there are some considerations when it comes to taxes, but as business leaders are thinking through all of these competing priorities, how do you guide those individuals in terms of, like, how do they even prioritize risk and resilience into those different decision-making areas?

Yeah, that’s a great question. I’m sure there’s a multitude of things that influence those business decisions, but there’s going to be risk wherever you’re located. Unfortunately, we don’t have a risk-free, perfect location yet. For those areas that are located in California, of course, they have to deal with wildfire as a major risk out there. Earthquake is another one. And then other parts of the country maybe have different risks or even overlapping hazards. There are some spots across the Southeast that have to contend with severe convective storms inland and hurricanes down on the coast.

So, I mean, taking the disaster risk into account for the area, that’s a big one, just finding out what the hazards are, and then ways that you can try to proactively mitigate them. An example here at IBHS, we’ve developed the Fortified program. That’s a method of building your structure that’s based on more than a decade of science that we’ve done at IBHS, and one of our programs, our offshoots of that, is the Fortified Commercial. So there are specific ways you can build your building to help prevent, strengthen your roof against the wind, and help prevent water damage in the event that your roof is damaged.

So just kind of thinking about some of these resilient actions that you can take, and then putting those into place as a plan of action as you’re relocating your business, if you’re headed into one of these risky areas.

When I was researching leading up to this episode, I was so impressed with what IBHS is doing, because I think we all anecdotally notice changes, and to actually have an organization that is researching and better understanding how we can be resilient in the face of all this. Maybe first, can you speak to what is the purpose of the organization, and what are you trying to accomplish there? And then, in all of that research, was there anything that really surprised you maybe when you started in the role, that you wouldn’t have expected can kind of help with that resilience?

Yeah, that’s a great question as well. I’ll just start with IBHS. So, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, we’re a nonprofit scientific research organization. We are funded by the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry, and it kind of came about really in the early days after Hurricane Andrew in Florida. That was a storm that caused a significant amount of loss. It was a record at the time, and that was one of the most, still to this day, one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time after it hit Florida.

And some talks from that sort of spawned about how do we build buildings stronger to prevent these losses within the insurance industry. And that’s really where conversations about building codes started to come up, and eventually conversations about needing a place to conduct the research, to figure out what types of science and engineering need to be in building codes. Across the U.S., we don’t have a national building code. That was one thing that I found really surprising. Something that I didn’t really think about. I just kind of assumed that the structures that I lived and worked in were safe, and that the engineers had done their job in figuring out how to build those well, and that if it was damaged by a tornado or a hurricane to some extent, I didn’t really think there was all that much you could do, particularly when it comes to things like tornadoes.

But fast forward a few years later, the early 2000s, we began to see building codes start to be put in place across parts of the United States. That was really the modern era of building codes. So before that, there really wasn’t any type of code anywhere in the country. So the building code started to develop across the country. Florida was, of course, one of those first states to start adopting one.

Today, it is left up to individual states. Building codes are updated, or there’s an opportunity to update building codes every three years, as those international codes are updated, and states can choose whether they want to adopt them or not. So many states like Florida have, and they stay pretty consistent with adopting the most recent building codes, so that would have the most recent science and engineering in it. So Florida is a great example of that. They have one of the strongest building codes in the country.

Other states really have not adopted a building code. Texas is one of those states that experiences a range of hazards, and they do not have a statewide uniform building code. And then another aspect of it is when, even when states do have a building code, it’s not always uniformly enforced. Sometimes it’s left up to individual municipalities to amend it and change it, and they can actually choose to weaken the building code if they want.

So that was kind of a big part about how IBHS all came about. And we’re a big proponent of building codes. We would like the science that we do to be put into building codes, and we do a lot of policy work in that space as well, kind of advocating to improve these building codes.

We mentioned some of those outputs, I guess, of all of that research, whether it is roofing, like the fortified roofing, or maybe making buildings more strong wind resistant. As leaders are listening to this podcast, and they’re thinking about it, I think certainly we have that natural tendency to think about the human health and safety element first. Certainly as I’m sitting in a high-rise, that’s what I’m thinking of right now. But there’s also the financial side, and we often don’t think about it until there is a situation like Hurricane Andrew that you then realize the financial impact. How should business leaders even be thinking of maybe the business case when it comes to these investments?

Yeah, and that brings me back to another point that I didn’t mention, is when building codes did start to come about, the purpose was life safety, right? That’s the most important thing, is that we can survive in the buildings that we live and work in. And building codes actually were not meant to protect the structure necessarily, right, and make it usable, or minimize the damage. So building codes were developed to save lives first.

We are now starting to get into the space where we are improving those building codes to a point where we are reducing those losses. So that’s a really key component about building codes that I did want to mention. So we’re starting to get into places like Florida, who have chosen to adopt the strong building codes so that people can survive the storms and that they can minimize the damage. That’s part of our mission at IBHS. We believe that all the suffering that comes with the storms is mostly preventable by using that science and engineering. So we want people to really not have to leave their homes and shut down their businesses after a storm. We want those buildings to be usable in a very short amount of time.

So yeah, I think the return on investment with resilience, that’s an important thing that leaders should be thinking about. When you consider how much money would be lost if you don’t have a business continuity plan, and you have to shut your business down, or the building’s not usable, and you can’t function at all, those are things to consider when they’re thinking about investing in these more resilient options, like a fortified roof, or if it’s in a hail-prone area, impact-resistant shingles. Sometimes a higher cost up front is going to pay dividends down the line when you’re talking about minimizing not only insured losses, but just the time of getting back to normal and getting back to business as normal.

And in all of that research, have you seen any best practices, let’s say? I think it sounds like, ideally, leaders would be thinking about making these upgrades or investing in these buildings that are more resilient. But if you do face extreme weather in one form or another, are there any recommendations that you have that business leaders take within those first 24 to 48 hours to minimize longer-term risk and perhaps keeping their operations going as smoothly as possible?

Yeah, well, the most important thing that you can do is have that business continuity plan in place ahead of the storm, so you’re prepared for the different possible scenarios, and you have prepared as much as you can to keep your business functioning and operating as normal.

After the storm, of course, assessing the damage as quickly as possible, documenting that damage before you begin the cleanup process, making sure you thoroughly inspect up on the roof. If you have roof damage, chances are you could have other structural damage, you could have water intrusion, and that can trickle down into other things.

Water, once it enters a building, typically amplifies the damage by about three times as much. So figuring out if water has made it into your building is going to be a key part, because if it has, you might have to deal with things like replacing insulation and sheetrock and even things like furniture and carpeting and that type of thing. So just kind of getting a good feeling of an inspection of the amount of damage into its cost, really assessing. Sorry, let me start that part over.

Just really thoroughly assessing the damage is going to be a key part in the immediate hours after the storm, and looking at the full picture on what you may be dealing with. Contacting your insurer, of course, that’s another thing. You want to know about proactively, what does the deductible cover, what all will you be covered for if a storm does hit, and then just getting in contact with an insurance agent as soon as possible.

Any expenses, any repairs, and any temporary expenses that you have to relocate your business operations, keeping really good records, really good receipts, consider having those receipts and everything saved electronically so you can access them as soon as possible. And then taking further steps to mitigate any additional damage.

It could be something as simple as boarding up broken windows so that water doesn’t get in during the next storm. We see lots of blue tarps on buildings after hurricanes and those big SCS events to protect damaged roofs and prevent further water from getting in there. So simple things like that are always things that you can kind of get started with immediately after the storm in the 24 to 48 hour period.

Those are all such great tips. I am wondering too, as I feel like the general population, just through lived experience again, is viewing that there is this increase and uptick in extreme weather, but do you feel like there are still any misconceptions when it comes to the built space, weather, and that resilience element?

Yes, and I think one misconception, like I mentioned earlier, even as a meteorologist I was somewhat guilty of it myself in my previous life, is that a lot of people think there’s nothing that you can do. We’ve actually come so far in the science and engineering that we can prevent a lot of the damage just by building differently and building more resiliently.

So I mentioned the Fortified program earlier. That could actually address much of the damage that you would receive, if not all of the damage, from EF0, EF1, EF2, and even in some cases low EF3 tornado damage. So you’re talking 100-plus mile-per-hour winds. You can actually minimize that damage, or even potentially eliminate it, just by building better, following the standards in the Fortified program.

Incorporating engineering, like what we call the continuous load path, that ties every floor of the house together, and then ties the bottom portion of your house to the foundation, securing it with special bolts and straps and things that keep the whole house together and transfer those loads that cause the house to tear apart or pull apart throughout the entire structure.

We have a lot of really great engineering and science. A lot of it we’ve researched at IBHS. We’ve put those one- and two-story full-scale both residential and commercial structures into our wind tunnel, where we can recreate or simulate up to a Category 3 hurricane, and we can add the rain in as well. So we’ve actually put these full-size structures to the test under very similar conditions, and we see the materials and the construction methods that fail, and we see the ones that actually hold up to that wind and minimize the damage as well.

So I think that’s one misconception, is that there’s nothing that can be done. In a lot of cases, there is. Most of the storms that happen are not these high-end events. The majority of events that happen, whether you’re talking about wildfire or thunderstorms or hurricanes, typically they’re on the lower end. Every so often we get one of those extreme events that really pushes the envelope, those tail events as we call them, but those are few and far between in comparison to the majority of what we see.

I’m thinking probably a lot of our listeners are leasing their space, and not necessarily owners of their real estate. Is there a first action that you would recommend that they take? Is it just reaching out to their facility management team and understanding what is in place, or is there a first step that you’d recommend that they take?

I would say, yeah, as far as business owners, and even those who are renting the places that they live, one important step either way is to make sure that everything is documented, right? All of your belongings and all of your equipment and everything, make sure that you have a thorough inventory done in advance. You know what was in there, the condition that it was in. That’s going to help you out with any insurance claim that you have to make, but in the event that you do have to move and find a different space, that’s going to come in really important as well.

But yeah, I mean, if you are leasing a building, obviously it’ll be up to the property owner to decide what they want to do as far as whether they’re fortifying the roof or not, and things like that. But I think it would be helpful to know what your lease covers. Know if you’re going to have to, in the event of a catastrophic weather event or hazard that affects you, what is their plan? Will you have to relocate? Will you have to shut down? Things like that.

And then just shifting gears a little bit, because you mentioned before, and I find it fascinating, and it’s just such a beautiful arc to your own career, that you were a broadcast meteorologist, and then you came over to this side of the house. Maybe what sparked that desire to do that shift over to begin with?

Yeah, I was working as a broadcast meteorologist for more than a decade, and much like building codes, actually my primary job was life safety. Your job is to communicate that science information, and in the event of extreme weather, especially hurricanes and tornadoes, go live on the air telling people to take cover, tracking the storms, telling people where it’s going, what it’s doing, and then really giving them that heads-up that something is coming and that they need to get into their safe place.

So really high-impact storms, tracking those, everyday weather as well. But I decided to kind of shift over to something that would use those communication skills, but something that could make a bigger difference. And I think figuring out ways to make people’s homes and businesses safer before the storm hits is really awesome.

So I love that I get to use those science communication skills, those meteorology skills, and then talk about resilience. I was typically in after the storms, covering it, maybe reporting on the ground as a meteorologist, and I’ve seen tons of devastation from a range of events. A lot of people think it can’t happen to them. That was probably the most common thing I heard in the field, is, “I never thought it would happen to me.” And then a lot of people think, “Well, I was just in the path of the storm. That was kind of the hand that I was dealt, and there’s not much I could have done about it.”

So getting to talk about what you can do, and what you can do in advance, and seeing the results from our research at the lab, and then our research in the field as well on some of these real-life events, and seeing that Fortified works, that’s really cool. It’s kind of the flip side of things, and yeah, I get to do a lot of really cool stuff at IBHS and talk about resilience.

To your point, I think your communication skills are probably so useful, probably in the broadcast meteorologist role as well, and certainly in your new role. How do you try and take those very technical terms and language and make it accessible to the everyday person so that they do take the appropriate actions?

Yeah, that’s a great question. We do a lot of really in-depth research. I get to work with some super smart researchers that have PhDs in everything from wind engineering to physics and fire science and all these cool things. So one thing that helps is being able to be on the ground during our research, be up close, talk with the researchers, kind of see the whole process play out, and understand the questions that they’re trying to answer, and the solutions they think they might come up with from these experiments.

But at the end of the day, it’s really explaining it similar to the same way I would explain a weather forecast. Meteorology is a very in-depth scientific degree, lots of math and physics, and once I did that in college, I really never had to do that again, and in my everyday job it was all about that communication aspect.

So I think, how would I explain this to my mom or my dad or my sister? And just cutting that meteorological and scientific jargon out as much as we can, and then just coming up with ways to explain it. We like to use a lot of, what’s the word? We like to use a lot of analogies for things, right? Like, when we’re explaining a fire, we might think about it in the context of someone standing around a campfire or something like that, if we want to explain how heat transfers to someone. So just finding new and, I think, creative and interesting ways to explain things that most people could just understand.

 When you’re having those conversations, do you feel, is there kind of a typical emotion or reaction that you get when you start talking to people about building resilience? I mean, when you started speaking, I’ll be really honest, right away I started getting a little bit fearful. I thought, oh man, what is our building, like, is it fear? Does it feel like maybe it’s so far away from reality for people, or what is that typical reaction, and then how do you bring them from that reaction to actual action?

Yeah, I think a lot of people are just surprised and unaware. And then I would say a lot of people are relieved to know that there’s a solution. So many of these people who do adopt the Fortified program have already been through these weather events, and you mentioned lived experience earlier. That’s a big part of it.

One of the areas of the country that is really into Fortified, and has really adopted it widely, is coastal Alabama. I’m actually from Mobile, Alabama, grew up on the Gulf Coast, so hurricanes are a pretty regular part of life. And for a long time, people had storms come, their homes were damaged, and then they built back the same way.

But 2004 and 2005, there were a couple of big storms that hit Alabama, or affected Alabama. Hurricane Ivan was one, that hit coastal Alabama in ’04, and then Katrina, of course, everybody knows that. That made landfall in Louisiana, but Alabama was impacted by that as well. Both of those caused extensive damage, and Alabama basically just decided they were tired of losing so many homes. The insured losses were through the roof. That brings up other issues like insurability.

Insurance becomes unaffordable in these areas that experience this high risk, because at the end of the day, the price follows the risk. So if you live in a risky area, it’s going to cost more. But when you take the steps to build more resiliently, insurers recognize that, and they recognize that the risk is not the same on a traditional construction home versus a fortified home. So that’s why today in Alabama, there are more than 50,000 fortified homes just in those two coastal counties, and homeowners there have affordable insurance. In fact, they get discounts on their wind insurance for installing fortified roofs, and then there are grant programs available, so funding for people to help with these options, and it’s actually just kind of a part of the regular market.

So Fortified, in many places it’s still kind of a new, unknown thing, but in Alabama it’s just kind of a part of the market. The homeowners know about it, it spreads through word of mouth. They see when a storm comes, their neighbor maybe didn’t experience any damage at all, and their home right next door did. So when they’re re-roofing, or they’re repairing their roof, they ask their contractors to build to Fortified.

So that’s really our big goal at IBHS, is to make these resilient methods just kind of standard and part of everyday life, so that it’s not supposed to be this special boutique thing. It’s something that people just know about, they ask for it, and then on top of that, that science gets updated and put into building codes as well.

Maybe double-click into that, because I really hadn’t thought about that until you mentioned it, but there’s obviously, especially for residential, but for business as well, it always comes down to how much does it cost. It sounds like maybe in the Alabama case, it really helped having, was it subsidies or grants? And is that an important piece in this puzzle to help move this forward?

Yeah, so in Alabama, the Alabama Department of Insurance has put different incentives and endorsements into place. So when you install a fortified roof, it is mandatory that your insurer offer you a discount for that. So that’s a big part of it. And then they also help with the Strengthen Alabama Homes program. They’re one of the primary providers of funding for that. A lot of homeowners can get grants of up to $10,000.

To cover that cost difference in upgrading to a fortified roof. So definitely, we typically see the widespread adoption follow those financial incentives. That really helps out in getting homes and businesses strengthened, and that’s definitely a big part of it.

Fortified is available in 30-plus states, but really we see that rapid growth in states that have embraced kind of the package deal, like giving people many different options. Some states also have catastrophe accounts, so homeowners can have funds in there that are available to them when a storm does strike that cover the cost of upgrading to a more resilient roof.

Louisiana is another big one. They actually faced a very similar situation that Alabama did back in the early 2000s. In 2020 and 2021, there were about five different named storms that made landfall in Louisiana. Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Delta, Ida, those were some of the big, really damaging storms. And same situation, some of those homes had been affected by multiple storms, the price of insurance soared because they were seen as very risky, so we started seeing Louisiana—Adopt Fortified en masse as well. And today Louisiana’s one of the fastest-growing states for the program.

I also feel like you’re the perfect person to ask this next question, because you got exposed in your meteorologist role and with your education to seeing how much crazier the weather is getting, and then at the same time, you’re seeing some of the research and the solutions. Are you optimistic that we will get to a place where we can truly make our buildings more resilient, or do you feel like we’re going to have to try to outpace weather changes?

Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, I think all the science is there. It’s just educating people about it, giving people incentives to make those choices. It’s a tough choice to make. Everything, the world is so expensive, and when you talk to a homeowner, they may want to update the kitchen, right, and redo the inside of their home, because that’s the thing they’re going to look at and use every day. The average person probably doesn’t even look at their roof all that much.

So the science is definitely there. We’re continuing to be big proponents of resilience, and we’re working with all sorts of a multitude of partners that are helping us spread the word about this. So I’m definitely optimistic that it can be done. I think in a lot of cases, again, lived experience coming in, there’s a lot of people that will be driven to take action once they’ve experienced an event like this, or some type of weather event or hazard. So that factors into it as well.

But yeah, I think all the solutions are there. It’s just kind of spreading the word and educating people that there are steps you can take. And it doesn’t even have to be like a full roof upgrade, right? There’s a lot of other things that you can do. Another big part of our research is on what we call damage amplifiers at IBHS, so what are components of the business or the home that can be damaged that can lead to additional damage?

Openings in the home are one of those. So when high wind comes along, it enters, if it breaks a window, or it forces a garage door—commercial roller door to blow in, then the wind pressure enters into your home, and those forces act on the inside of your home, which is not where you want it to be. Once the pressures start to find a way in, they have to find a way out as well. So it’s sort of like, we describe it like blowing up a balloon. The pressure pushes up on the roof and out on the walls. It tries to blow up your house like a balloon from the inside out, which is really bad. So that can lead to roof damage, it can lead to structural collapse, things like walls collapsing, windows and doors being blown in. That’s additional damage that you have to deal with as well.

So small things like making sure the doors are closed during severe weather events, if there’s a high risk for wind, you can make sure that those doors are closed and secure. And even upgrading those, which is sort of in the mid-range as far as resilience upgrades, it’s not the cost of a roof, but it’s not something that you can necessarily do at the local hardware store. There may be a contractor involved, or a professional of some type, but there are doors that are specifically tested and built to withstand those higher winds. They’re called wind-rated doors.

So whether it’s roll-up doors or garage doors, there’s windows as well, and they are constructed in ways that allow them to better stand up to flying debris. So things like tree branches or any kind of flying debris from a storm, if they impact those windows, the idea is that the glass shatters in place and sort of cracks, but it all holds together instead of breaking and letting that flying debris enter into the home and create that opening that, again, allows those wind pressures into place.

So there are mid-range options as well, and then a big part of what we talk about at IBHS as well is just maintenance, right? Keeping up with the building, making sure that if there’s a regular maintenance schedule, you know what it is, and that you follow it. All of that goes into the condition of your building, and making sure that it’s functioning optimally, because if there’s something that isn’t right, or that needs to be fixed or addressed, and a storm does come along, that’s probably going to be one of the weaker points on the building, and the weather will always find a way to exploit those weak points, and then again, that can lead to even more damage.

These are such great, actionable tips that all of our listeners can, again, apply both personally and professionally within their day-to-day. As you look at the work of IBHS, and I really encourage our listeners to go check out the website, just the scale that you’re testing at is fascinating. What do you feel like success would be like for the organization in, let’s say, a decade? And you’re looking back, and you feel, oh, we really accomplished what we were trying to do here?

Yeah, I think, I mean, we love to see our designation programs grow and be a part of everyday life, but even if homes don’t necessarily have that piece of paper that gets them that discount, knowing that the science has been updated and put into those codes, because that means it’s being used en masse, so that all the new buildings that are built will be automatically built stronger.

One part of that is a big component of Fortified is the sealed roof deck. So those gaps and seams in roof decks that kind of allow the roof deck to flex, those allow water in. So when roof cover is ripped off during a storm, that allows the rain to get in, and again, that can lead to significant water damage. So in Fortified, you actually put a special tape over those seams, and that actually, just a simple tape, can actually prevent up to 95% of that water from getting in.

It’s actually pretty simple. That is not something every contractor or roofer would do, maybe unless they knew about Fortified, but that kind of technique, the sealed roof deck, is actually going to be, likely going to make it into building codes. So for the next building code update in 2027, that’ll be the next go-round for states that choose to adopt that. The new homes in the coastal locations, so within a certain area of the coast that are prone to hurricanes, that will just be a part of the standard, so everyday construction. With those new homes that are built, the sealed roof deck will just be part of it.

So getting our science to kind of be the standard, that’s, I think, what we would love to see. And we would love for business owners and homeowners to know about these options for their homes and businesses, and just think about adopting them, and think about the return on investment.

Well, thank you so much, Rachael. This is such an interesting take. Again, we’re all trying to think about how we can be more resilient businesses, and this is just an angle that truly does impact us all on a day-to-day basis. Before we wrap up, though, we always like to ask the same question at the end, and I would love to know your thoughts on this, which is, what do you think it will take for businesses and leaders to be resilient going forward?

Oh, that’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that before.

Hmm.

I would say just having an open mind and being willing to adapt. We see our weather changing, and we see it getting more extreme, and we see weather patterns doing new things, like I talked about the secondary Tornado Alley across the Southeast. That’s something that’s come about over the last 10 to 20 years or so. So just recognizing that our climate is changing, and that makes things, I guess, less predictable in the real world. Our extremes are becoming more extreme, and we don’t know how extreme those could be.

So just realizing that there are solutions available, that as we move into the future, just making resilience part of the norm, that’s a big part of it. So I guess just keeping an open mind and being willing to adapt, and then think down the line. We see what our climate is like today. Ten, 20, 30, 40 years from now, who knows what is going to happen, so resilience will certainly be a key part as we move forward.

Well, thank you so much, Rachael. This has been a great conversation. I think your expertise is needed in this space, so I really appreciate your time today.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me on, Lauren. I love to talk about IBHS and all the cool science, and I definitely encourage people to check out IBHS.org. We have an awesome YouTube channel as well with a lot of the video from those experiments, so there’s a lot of really interesting things people can watch on there.

Fantastic, thank you so much.

Yeah, thanks for having me!