Friday, July 4, 2014

Changing Light Bulbs

*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*

*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]

How many risk managers does it take to change a light bulb?  The straight
answer to this traditional joke setup is probably too many (and likely way
too many regulators).

There is a version of this old joke that you have probably heard many times
before.  "How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?" 
The punch line is "one, but the bulb has to want to change".  In risk
consulting we are often asked about changing the risk culture of a firm. 
There are many excellent ways to go about doing so, but the factual and
non-funny answer is that the firm must first want to change its risk culture.

The sad reality is that many firms do not want a risk culture, much less
change their existing risk culture (except to eliminate whatever risk
management they have in practice).  All change however must first be
preceded by a willingness to change, and this is especially true for risk
culture.


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