*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
As I write this I am watching an afternoon of college football. A
commercial that seems to be in a pretty frequent loop is by an insurance
company. The theme of the commercial is "humans". Basically the
commercial shows some silly situations that humans get into that ultimately
require insurance. The background music is "I'm only human" by The
Human League. If you watch American college football I suspect you have
seen the commercial I am talking about.
The theme of the commercial – humans do silly things that lead to mishaps
– is something that all risk managers need to remember. Meanwhile this
has to be a short blog. The commercials are over and the game is getting
exciting.
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Friday, November 8, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Rocky Horror Picture Show
*/By /**/Rick Nason, PhD, CFA/*
*/Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
Some of you of a certain age will remember going to see the Rocky Horror
Picture Show while you were in college. I certainly do. We dressed up,
packed up our newspapers, water squirters, burnt toast, confetti and of
course our outfits. Those who know me, and are familiar with Rocky Horror
can probably guess quite easily which character I always went as.
Our daughters grew up in a household with a well worn and frequently watched
VHS of the movie. As this past week was Halloween, there was of course a
midnight showing at the University. My daughter in preparation for the show
asked me to sit with her and watch the show so she could get a refresher
course on all of the audience lines and antics. After an upgrade of her
Rocky Horror education she was excited about going to the show.
However, it turned out there was a problem – none of her peers, and few in
the audience knew the audience participation protocols. The audience was
too young. They did not have the "institutional knowledge" of Rocky
Horror. The experience was a bit of a letdown for my daughter. Too bad
– Rocky Horror is great fun to see.
With the demographics being what they are in the corporate world, there is a
generational shift of a different kind occurring. Lots of people talk about
demographic risk – namely that there is a huge roll-off of seasoned workers
who are baby-boomers who are starting to retire and the trend is going to
accelerate in the next few years. Many corporations are trying to get
bodies into place to replace the retiring workers. But what about making
sure the institutional knowledge gets transferred? How many corporations
are going to become the equivalent of watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show
in a theatre where not enough of the audience knows the participation parts?
Rocky Horror Picture Show is a fun show to watch even without audience
participation – however it is a whole lot more fun with it. How aware
is your organization of the various implications of demographic risk?
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
*/Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
Some of you of a certain age will remember going to see the Rocky Horror
Picture Show while you were in college. I certainly do. We dressed up,
packed up our newspapers, water squirters, burnt toast, confetti and of
course our outfits. Those who know me, and are familiar with Rocky Horror
can probably guess quite easily which character I always went as.
Our daughters grew up in a household with a well worn and frequently watched
VHS of the movie. As this past week was Halloween, there was of course a
midnight showing at the University. My daughter in preparation for the show
asked me to sit with her and watch the show so she could get a refresher
course on all of the audience lines and antics. After an upgrade of her
Rocky Horror education she was excited about going to the show.
However, it turned out there was a problem – none of her peers, and few in
the audience knew the audience participation protocols. The audience was
too young. They did not have the "institutional knowledge" of Rocky
Horror. The experience was a bit of a letdown for my daughter. Too bad
– Rocky Horror is great fun to see.
With the demographics being what they are in the corporate world, there is a
generational shift of a different kind occurring. Lots of people talk about
demographic risk – namely that there is a huge roll-off of seasoned workers
who are baby-boomers who are starting to retire and the trend is going to
accelerate in the next few years. Many corporations are trying to get
bodies into place to replace the retiring workers. But what about making
sure the institutional knowledge gets transferred? How many corporations
are going to become the equivalent of watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show
in a theatre where not enough of the audience knows the participation parts?
Rocky Horror Picture Show is a fun show to watch even without audience
participation – however it is a whole lot more fun with it. How aware
is your organization of the various implications of demographic risk?
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Monday, November 4, 2013
Complicated Watches
*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
Just finished reading one of those luxury magazines that you always find in
Airport lounges. As usual there were lots of advertisements for
uber-expensive and uber-complicated watches. I have to admit that I find
the technology behind these watches fascinating and the watches themselves a
marvel of engineering and craftsmanship. However in this day and age do you
need a watch that tells you the moon cycle, has an anti-gravity correction
and one that tells you the day of the week? I suspect that if you need a
watch to know what the day of the week is then you are not likely to be
bright enough to command enough of a salary to be able to afford such a
watch.
The watches are fantastic engineering, but the bells and whistles have
virtually no practicality – the typical $300 smartphone can do a lot more
and do it a lot more efficiently. In many cases though complicated watches
remind me of the risk management systems that many companies have – lots of
exotic complications, but subpar practical performance compared to simpler
more practical systems. The same goes for techniques.
If the goal of a watch is to tell time then a $50 watch will do that for you
just fine. However I realize that virtually everyone who buys and wears (as
opposed to buying them for a collection or as an investment) a watch that has
a cost in six figures is trying to make a statement.
Is your risk management system for show, an attempt to make a statement?
Does it have lots of bells and whistles, providing output that the typical
manager should understand in any case – the equivalent of a watch telling
the wearer the day of the week? Or is your risk management system more
focused on the actual task at hand?
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
Just finished reading one of those luxury magazines that you always find in
Airport lounges. As usual there were lots of advertisements for
uber-expensive and uber-complicated watches. I have to admit that I find
the technology behind these watches fascinating and the watches themselves a
marvel of engineering and craftsmanship. However in this day and age do you
need a watch that tells you the moon cycle, has an anti-gravity correction
and one that tells you the day of the week? I suspect that if you need a
watch to know what the day of the week is then you are not likely to be
bright enough to command enough of a salary to be able to afford such a
watch.
The watches are fantastic engineering, but the bells and whistles have
virtually no practicality – the typical $300 smartphone can do a lot more
and do it a lot more efficiently. In many cases though complicated watches
remind me of the risk management systems that many companies have – lots of
exotic complications, but subpar practical performance compared to simpler
more practical systems. The same goes for techniques.
If the goal of a watch is to tell time then a $50 watch will do that for you
just fine. However I realize that virtually everyone who buys and wears (as
opposed to buying them for a collection or as an investment) a watch that has
a cost in six figures is trying to make a statement.
Is your risk management system for show, an attempt to make a statement?
Does it have lots of bells and whistles, providing output that the typical
manager should understand in any case – the equivalent of a watch telling
the wearer the day of the week? Or is your risk management system more
focused on the actual task at hand?
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
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