A company can control its budget, its hiring, and its product roadmap, but it can’t control whether a wildfire threatens the town where its offices sit. That distinction opens a recent Forbes Business Council column by Jean-Pierre Conte, founder and managing partner of his family office, Lupine Crest Capital, who argues that external threats like wildfires call for a different kind of business response than the operational risks leaders are used to managing.
Conte, a philanthropist based in Aspen, Colorado, writes from firsthand exposure to wildfire risk in a mountain community. His argument isn’t that businesses should simply write checks when disaster strikes, but that ongoing involvement in local wildfire preparedness belongs alongside the other ways a company already engages with the place it operates.
Start By Asking, Not Giving
The first step Conte recommends is consultation. Before committing money or resources, he argues that business leaders should talk directly with community leaders and local fire officials to understand what is actually needed, rather than assuming what would help. A donation aimed at the wrong problem, in his framing, accomplishes less than a smaller commitment aimed at the right one.
This approach treats wildfire preparedness the way a company might treat any other operational question, gathering information before allocating resources rather than after. Conte suggests this produces better outcomes than reflexive giving that responds to headlines rather than local priorities.
Involvement That Continues
Conte closes his argument by pushing against one-time gestures. He writes that business leaders should think about sustained involvement in the communities where they operate, treating wildfire preparedness as one example among several ongoing local needs a company might support over time rather than a single response to one bad fire season.
A Standard That Applies Beyond Wildfire
Conte frames wildfire preparedness as one instance of a broader principle rather than a special case requiring its own separate playbook. The same sequence, consulting local leaders first and staying involved afterward, applies just as well to a community’s housing shortage, its infrastructure needs, or any other local priority a business might otherwise address with a single disconnected gift. Wildfire risk simply makes the stakes of getting that sequence wrong more visible than most other local issues do.
The full column, along with more of Conte’s writing on community involvement and business leadership, is available through his Forbes Business Council profile and personal website, both linked below.