Risk Leadership

The general perception amongst most project and risk managers that we can somehow control the future is, says David Hancock, one of the most ill-conceived in risk management. The biggest problem is how to measure risks in terms of their potential likelihood, their possible consequences, their correlation and the public's perception of them. The situation is further complicated by identifying different categories of problem types; Tame problems (straight-forward simple linear causal relationships and can be solved by analytical methods), and 'messes' which have high levels of system complexity and have interrelated or interdependent problems needing to be considered holistically. However, when an overriding social theory or social ethic is not shared the project or risk manager also faces 'wickedness'. Wicked problems are characterised by high levels of behavioural complexity, but what confuses real decision-making is that behavioural and dynamic complexities co-exist and interact in what is known as wicked messes. Tame, Messy and Wicked Risk Leadership will help professionals understand the limitations of the present project and risk management techniques. It introduces the concepts of societal benefit and behavioural risk, and illustrates why project risk has followed a particular path, developing from the basis of engineering, science and mathematics. David Hancock argues for, and offers, complimentary models from the worlds of sociology, philosophy and politics to be added to the risk toolbox, and provides a framework to understand which particular type of problem (tame, messy, wicked or messy and wicked) may confront you and which tools will provide the greatest potential for successful outcomes. Finally he introduces the concept of 'risk leadership' to aid the professional in delivering projects in a world of uncertainty and ambiguity. Anyone who has experienced the pain and blame of projects faced with overruns of time or money, dissatisfied stakeholders or basic failure, will welcome this imaginative reframing of some aspects of risk management. This is a book that has implications for the risk management processes, culture, and outcomes, of large and complex projects of all kinds.

Modern risk management as practiced today faces significant obstacles—we argue—primarily due to the fundamental premise of the concept itself. It asserts that we are mainly dealing with measurable, quantifiable risks and that we can manage the uncontrollable by relying on formal control-based systems, which has produced a general view that (enterprise) risk management is a technical-scientific discipline. Strategic Risk Leadership offers a critique of the status quo, and encourages leaders, executives, and chief risk officers to find fresh approaches that can help them deal more proactively with what the future may hold. The book provides an overview of the history of risk management and current risk governance approaches as prescribed by leading risk management standards, such as COSO and ISO31000. This enables practitioners to challenge the frameworks and improve their adoption in practice introducing sustainable resilience as a (more) meaningful response to uncertain and unknowable conditions. The book shows how traditional thinking downplays the significance of human behavior and judgmental biases as key elements of major organizational exposures illustrated and explained through numerous case examples and studies. This book is essential reading for strategic risk managers to understand the requirements for effective risk governance practices in the contemporary and rapidly changing global risk landscape. Indeed, it is a valuable resource for all risk executives, leaders, and chief risk officers, as well as advanced students of risk management.

This casebook extends Strategic Risk Leadership: Engaging a World of Risk, Uncertainty and the Unknown, bringing theory and practice grounded in the first book to life with an array of applicable, real-world examples. The book enables critical thinking about the current state of risk management and ERM, demonstrating contemporary shortcomings and challenges from real-life cases drawn from a global selection of well-known organizations. It confronts modern risk management practices and discusses what leaders should do to deal with unpredictable environments. Providing a basis for developing more effective risk management approaches, the book identifies shortcomings of contemporary approaches to risk management and specifies how to deal with the major risks we face today, illuminated by a variety of comprehensive global examples. It also provides valuable insights on these approaches for managers and leaders in general—including risk executives and chief risk officers—as well as advanced risk management students. End-of-chapter cases illustrate both good and bad risk management approaches as useful inspiration for reflective risk leaders. This book will be a hugely valuable resource for those studying or teaching risk management.

We as humans are prone to a variety of wired-in cognitive mistakes in the way we interpret and react to risk-related information. This is highly consequential since the cognitive biases managers are exposed to in their day-to-day business erode the objectivity of their risk-related decisions, which ultimately hurts the financial well-being of their firms. This book seeks to develop risk literacy as a leadership skill. It helps managers develop the skills to improve managerial decision-making in regards to managing risk. The last decades have offered various insights into how human nature often gets in the way of rational decision-making. This book is a valuable resource for insurance executives, chief risk officers, company leaders, and graduate students of risk management and risk psychology. It is the first behavioral risk management guide for managers and other interested readers - using examples from economic theory, behavioral finance, and game theory, it studies the hidden forces that drive our decision-making processes under risk.

Public Sector Leadership in Assessing and Addressing Risk explores risk management in practice, focusing on the identification of risks in the European public sector while contextualising its Eurocentric analysis within a global setting; it lays the groundwork for understanding the main philosophical premises of risk management.

This casebook extends Strategic Risk Leadership: Engaging a World of Risk, Uncertainty and the Unknown, bringing theory and practice grounded in the first book to life with an array of applicable, real-world examples. The book enables critical thinking about the current state of risk management and ERM, demonstrating contemporary shortcomings and challenges from real-life cases drawn from a global selection of well-known organizations. It confronts modern risk management practices and discusses what leaders should do to deal with unpredictable environments. Providing a basis for developing more effective risk management approaches, the book identifies shortcomings of contemporary approaches to risk management and specifies how to deal with the major risks we face today, illuminated by a variety of comprehensive global examples. It also provides valuable insights on these approaches for managers and leaders in general—including risk executives and chief risk officers—as well as advanced risk management students. End-of-chapter cases illustrate both good and bad risk management approaches as useful inspiration for reflective risk leaders. This book will be a hugely valuable resource for those studying or teaching risk management.

In this new twist on a topic of perennial interest, Joe MacInnis shows how the leadership traits forged in extraordinary circumstances are transferrable to our everyday lives. Simply put, this is a handbook for building character. Some people are born leaders. The rest of us find ourselves in positions where leadership is required. Self-described "accidental leader" Dr. Joe MacInnis found himself in such a situation: deep beneath the ice of the Arctic Ocean. Starting with his undersea explorations, this physician, scientist, author and motivational speaker shares an accessible--and obtainable--list of leadership traits inspired by his own journey and the icons he's learned from over the years. Deep Leadership is an eminently digestible book with short lessons and anecdotes. Think Rework meets Iacocca. Its centre is the author's 12 "Essential Traits of Leadership": Cool Competence, Powerful Presentations, Physical Toughness, Hot-Zone Humour, Mental Resilience, Strategic Imagination, High-Empathy Communication, Enduring Trust, Fierce Ingenuity, Team Genius, Resolute Courage and Warrior's Honour. Each trait is communicated with an anecdote from MacInnis's experience, making it totally memorable. MacInnis also gives the reader a primer to navigate his or her own path toward leadership, including such practices as keeping a journal, building a library, and finding mentors.

The market is like the sea: it gives, and it takes away. That became apparent once again when the economy and society went into “lockdown” due to the coronavirus outbreak. Organizations will either sink or swim, and only the pros will be able to keep their heads above water. This is a self-help book for managers, supervisors and administrators who see themselves as skippers at the helm of an organization in times of turbulence, uncertainty and complexity. It provides a number of the latest handy management models, such as the Three-Phase Model, Governance Model and Management Matrix, which help leaders and managers arrive at well thought-out risk management decisions. In addition, the practical cases and discussion questions in each chapter help readers implement these models in their organizations. The book is an English translation of the Dutch book ‘Varen in de mist’, which was nominated for the Dutch Management Book of the Year.