*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
Celebrated Canadian author and environmentalist Farley Mowat died last
week. Perhaps his best known work was "Never Cry Wolf" which was made
into a popular movie.
Farley Mowat is credited with saying that he "never let the facts get in
the way of the truth". In risk management, a lot of the time we focus too
much on the quantitative facts when in reality they are obscuring the
truth. We naively and too frequently incorrectly assume that because the
numbers are objective that they "tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth". Nothing could be further from the truth.
Numbers don't always give context, nor do they always reflect the
context. Numbers don't prevision the future, they just tell the past.
Numbers cannot assess if they are measuring the right variable, at the right
time. Numbers just tell, they do not interpret.
Farley Mowat was a fantastic storyteller, and while he may not have stuck to
the facts, or the numbers, he always told the truth.
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Excitement
*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
How come risk management often comes off as so boring? How come the risk
manager of a firm is frequently a party kill? How come risk managers never
wear funky socks?
Risk management is, and should be the most exciting, challenging, dynamic,
creative and energetic profession within an organization. Risk management
is exciting and we should start acting that way.
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
How come risk management often comes off as so boring? How come the risk
manager of a firm is frequently a party kill? How come risk managers never
wear funky socks?
Risk management is, and should be the most exciting, challenging, dynamic,
creative and energetic profession within an organization. Risk management
is exciting and we should start acting that way.
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Monday, May 12, 2014
Grocery Shopping
*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
I was conducting a university seminar for executives on managing complexity a
short while ago and the question was asked where do you get your best ideas,
or how do you get your best solutions to issues; while working at the office,
or while doing something totally unrelated to the idea or issue at hand?
The reason for the question was to illustrate that formal settings – such
as the office, the meeting room, or a laboratory are seldom the best places
in which to think creatively. It was also to illustrate that you cannot
force thinking creatively.
Archimedes of course came up with his breakthrough while supposedly getting
into a tub. It turned out that the executives in the seminar got almost all
of their best ideas while being anyplace other than at work. One
participant stated that whenever he has to solve a tricky problem he goes
grocery shopping. Such responses illustrate the power and the superiority
of the sub-conscious mind.
Collectively I believe that we also need more sub-conscious mind thinking
about risk management. Trying to force risk management paradigms onto
companies or even whole industries is like trying to sit in a corner and
think real hard. It may produce answers, but the answers may not be as good
or as creative as the ones you come up with while grocery shopping (and thus
not trying to think so hard).
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*
*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]
I was conducting a university seminar for executives on managing complexity a
short while ago and the question was asked where do you get your best ideas,
or how do you get your best solutions to issues; while working at the office,
or while doing something totally unrelated to the idea or issue at hand?
The reason for the question was to illustrate that formal settings – such
as the office, the meeting room, or a laboratory are seldom the best places
in which to think creatively. It was also to illustrate that you cannot
force thinking creatively.
Archimedes of course came up with his breakthrough while supposedly getting
into a tub. It turned out that the executives in the seminar got almost all
of their best ideas while being anyplace other than at work. One
participant stated that whenever he has to solve a tricky problem he goes
grocery shopping. Such responses illustrate the power and the superiority
of the sub-conscious mind.
Collectively I believe that we also need more sub-conscious mind thinking
about risk management. Trying to force risk management paradigms onto
companies or even whole industries is like trying to sit in a corner and
think real hard. It may produce answers, but the answers may not be as good
or as creative as the ones you come up with while grocery shopping (and thus
not trying to think so hard).
[1] https://twitter.com/rsdsolutions
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