By
Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.
Got an email from a former
student today lamenting the rise of “people pleasing versus constructive
thought”. Having constructive thought is
tough because it frequently does (and should) evolve into constructive debate.
A constructive debate involves
tension between two or more thoughts on how to make things better. However, in the age of “every kid gets a
Valentine”, tension is frowned upon. Instead
a people pleasing solution is often the quickly sought after desired solution. (Note: people pleasing solutions are rarely
if ever people maximizing solutions.)
Risk management is not immune to
the lack of constructive debate. Too
many of the instances I see involve a political solution (read people pleasing)
to a risk issue than a solution process that involved constructive thought and
debate.
While the lack of constructive debate is an issue for risk
managers and risk management stakeholder to consider, there is another risk
management issue here. That risk issue
is the overall lack of debate, and the lack of tension and the lack of
constructive thought that goes into business decisions. Perhaps corporate political correctness is
itself a risk management issue – right up there with cyber-security, talent
risk, supply chain risk and financial risk.
Instead of a risk audit committee, we need a constructive debate
committee.
