by Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.
This past weekend signaled the start of rugby season for us on the east coast of Canada. I have two daughters that play (although one is in Texas going to school where rugby is not nearly as popular – apparently the women in Texas are wimps, and the boys won’t do anything with physical contact that does not involve a helmet).
This weekend was the local “icebreaker” tournament where the teams play shortened scrimmages and the coaches are allowed on the field so as to better coach their teams in battle situations as they prepare for the upcoming season.
One of the scrimmages had the parents (all except one – and no, it was not me – my daughter is the co-captain of her team) in fits of laughter. A new player made an amazing break down the field and scored a try. However instead of “touching the ball down” as required, she continued to run though the try zone and out of bounds – which of course nullified the try.
The coach on the field was of course beside himself with disbelief, and was about to let go with a tirade, when the assistant coach shouted to him, “You can’t fix stupid!”
With that we all cracked up, and the coach immediately forgot about the tirade. Of course the girl who “scored” the try felt awful, but all was soon forgotten – and fortunately it was only an unofficial scrimmage, and thus the score was not of importance.
How does this fit into risk management. Very simply. In risk management we try to fix stupid. We set policies in place against stupid. We put in place redundancies against stupid. We have alternatives to mitigate stupid. Ultimately however “you can’t fix stupid!”
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