Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Risk management -- what a concept!


While the firm encourages risk-taking ....., it also empowers its risk managers — at other firms considered the back office — to constantly challenge even the most senior leaders to keep them from going over the cliff.


"98 percent of my time thinking about 2 percent probabilities.” That is not something you hear from most .... chief executives

What a concept: bring risk management out of the back office!

Now, here's the problem with that: Risk management is about avoiding failure; incentives reward creating success. It might look like this is two sides of the coin, but they really aren't. Project managers are told "it's your job" re the latter; sponsors and stakeholders are in the driver's seat for the former.

So, senior management follows the money. No news there.

But of course, we are told: risk and opportunities are both part of risk management. But are they really? RM has its own process; opportunities need not apply. Opportunities are managed either in a portofolio, strategic plan, or in a project's change management process. The overlap with RM is coincidental at best.

So, if there firms that put RM on the front burner, I say: more power to you!

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