Most of us have experienced the 9/11
tragedy through the lens of distance—as I have—because
we weren’t there. Most Americans say that they—and the
nation—were forever changed by the tragedy of September
11, 2001. Since that day, we’ve all asked ourselves,
"How would I have responded had I been in the WTC?
Would I have made the right decisions? Would I have tried
to save others? Would my company have known what to do
when the unthinkable instantly became reality?"
Miraculously, of the 1,900-plus
employees of Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, all but 9 employees and 2
consultants survived. Empire’s amazing success at safely
evacuating its employees has attracted considerable
attention from other organizations, and their remarkable
story has been told in the national media.
Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield was the largest
corporate headquarters housed in the WTC. With over 1,900
employees in the facility, they were also the fifth
largest employer at the Trade Center. They occupied 10
floors of the building, spread between Floor 17 and Floor
31.
Carol Kallendorf: Bob, where were you
when the planes struck the World Trade Center and what
were your first reactions?
Bob Lawrence: I was in my office on the
29th floor talking on the phone to one of our Human
Resources directors. I said, "Oh my God! We’re
having a major earthquake!" I saw the buildings
across the street--they were shaking too. I first knew it
was not an earthquake when I saw debris falling on three
sides of the building.
The next thing we thought of was that a
bomb had gone off in an elevator.
 |
Kallendorf: I can’t imagine your shock
and confusion. What happened next?
Lawrence: I got off the phone and went
out into the hall. The first thing I did was direct everybody
to move into the center of the building. That’s
what our people were trained to do. We had rehearsed how
to evacuate and the normal process was to go to the center
hallways for announcements. This time there were no
announcements.
Kallendorf: What was going through your
head in those first minutes? |
Lawrence: At first you think you may not
get out alive. You knew immediately that the situation was
extremely dangerous. But the people were remarkable! This
was no panic evacuation. Everyone truly tried to help
everyone else stay calm. It was a way to keep yourself
calm--by keeping others calm.
Kallendorf: As you got to ground level,
what did you find?
Lawrence: It was truly horrific at the
mezzanine level. We weren’t prepared for this kind of
massive devastation. And, I will never describe this
again. It was too horrible. At this point, we still didn’t
know it was a plane. We thought it was a bomb.
Kallendorf: Knowing who should do what
must have been key. What were some of the specific roles
of Empire people in responding to the crisis?
Lawrence: The linchpins were the floor
monitors, who were Empire employees trained in emergency
response. They got the evacuation moving. My immediate
role was to make sure my department was safe and that the
evacuation was proceeding well.
Kallendorf: You must have seen and heard
examples of great heroism that day.
| Lawrence: Yes, there were many. One of
our employees stayed with his friend, a quadriplegic
employee, to try to get him out of the building. Unfortunately,
neither made it. Then there was the security guard who was
seen right to the end getting people out to safety. Regrettably, he didn’t make it
out either. But he saved many
lives. |
 |
And the sight of the firefighters and
police officers bursting into the building is a sight none
of us will ever forget.
Kallendorf: It was extraordinary that
you made it out. Once you were out of the building, what
happened next?
Lawrence: We headed over to Battery
Park. That’s when we started to hear that these were
planes, not bombs. There were lots of rumors and
misinformation. It was really impossible to get accurate
information. And mostly the cell phones didn’t work
because the towers were out and there was such heavy cell
phone traffic.
I ended up walking nearly 100 blocks to get to
the apartment of a coworker. That’s where I got the
first phone call about trying to find employees. That was
the most important priority for us: find our employees.
Kallendorf: How did you even know where
to begin to locate your people?
Lawrence: Almost immediately 40-50
people from our Customer Call Center were assigned to make calls to
employees’ homes 12 – 15 hours per day. By the end of
the week, we were down to less than 20 people missing. The
final number of employees was 9.
Kallendorf: This obviously was not a
spur of the moment plan. How did Empire prepare for such
an effective crisis response? How did managers and
executives know what to do?
Lawrence: We have a very detailed
disaster recovery plan with tons of information on what to
do, phone numbers, etc. It must have worked, because
people seemed to know what to do and they did it.
Kallendorf: It’s hard to imagine how
you continued customer service when all of your
technology, which served multiple locations, was
destroyed. How did you ever pull that off?
Lawrence: Well, we even had people with
the presence of mind to reroute telephone and data
communication before evacuating! They were attentive to
the need to reconnect the systems before leaving the
building.
Kallendorf: And what was senior
management doing during the next days?
Lawrence: Senior management held
a teleconference the first day and began
meeting the next day at an offsite command center, and
they met there once a day for a week or so.
Kallendorf: What were their top
priorities?
Lawrence: Accounting for all our
employees was Number One. That was the top thing on
everyone’s minds.
The next priority was to keep the claims
processing engine running and keep servicing customers. I’m
pleased to say that basic claims processing went forward
without interruption. There were no delays to customers at
all.
The biggest problems from a business
perspective were the loss of mail and the slowing of mail,
as well as the loss of productivity from having to
relocate employees to disparate locations.
But our organization had a tremendous
resolve to get through it and get through it well. The
Senior Management team provided the direction and
leadership to make that happen.
Kallendorf: How did Empire’s managers
and executives communicate to employees about the tragedy
in the days and weeks that followed?
Lawrence: We set up and publicized an
800 number to get the message out.
Our CEO, Dr. Michael Stocker, had a message on
the 800 number and that was very reassuring to employees.
We used telephone chains of command through supervisors to
keep in touch with employees.
Kallendorf: The dislocation of the
employees must have been a mind-boggling problem. How did
you begin to get people back together?
Lawrence: Within 10 days we held all-hands
meetings for all employees who had officed at the WTC. Dr.
Stocker, our CEO, spoke at all the meetings. That got
people to go out of their homes, which was important. Some
had been afraid to leave their homes after 9/11 and
literally had not gone out.
Kallendorf: All of American business is
living in a new environment. What are the "lessons
learned" from this horrible experience and what would
you advise other organizations and executives to do, based
on your experience?
Lawrence: Well, I’m an HR person. I
would say you need to pay as much attention to the people
side as to the process side. The personal touch is as
important as a plan of action. We are a business—but we’re
also a collection of talented people. You need to show
concern and flexibility.
People will have to do things they haven’t
done before. You need to create that mindset immediately
and let people know you are trying to get things back to
normal as soon as possible.
And having good leadership helps people
get over a tragedy more quickly.
Kallendorf: Bob, what final pieces of
advice might you give to other executives and
organizations to help prepare them to respond to a major
crisis?
Lawrence: I’d like to tell them that
if they ever face a crisis like this—and I sure hope
they never do—they will probably do the right thing on
auto pilot. You just find the strength and do it. And then
you just go on living.
