Bluenose

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

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If you have ever been really bored and examined the back of a Canadian dime you have seen a rendering of the sailing ship The Bluenose.  The Bluenose is (was) the pride of Nova Scotia.  During the early 1900’s when sailing schooners were the elite of the shipping and fishing world, the Bluenose was a remarkable vessel.  Not only was it a working fishing vessel, it was also the fastest sailboat of its kind.  (Let’s see Larry Ellison’s sailboat bring home a catch of fish!)

As with all things, progress led to the demise of the working schooner and the Bluenose sunk after hitting a reef near Haiti while hauling a load of bananas.  To commemorate the world beating achievements of the Bluenose (and, admittedly, to capture tourist dollars) the construction of a replica was commissioned. 

Unfortunately the fate of The Bluenose II has not been as positively illustrious as its famous ancestor.  To begin there were a variety of legal disputes and then cost overruns on the construction.  The biggest hurdle however was that the ship was required to get a steel rudder in order to be classified as sea worthy by an American classification agency.  More than one seasoned shipbuilder called the requirement ridiculous.  In essence regulation was stating that the original design of the ship was a dud and needed to be redesigned.  Slight problem – the original design of the ship was not set up for a steel rudder.

Long story short, The Bluenose II had to be taken out of service earlier this week due to problems in part caused by the steel rudder.  Just another case of well intentioned regulation really mucking things up.  I suspect the original Bluenose had no accreditation or regulatory inspections except for the fact that it was not only the fastest but one of the hardest working ships of it era.

Jane Goodall

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

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One of my favorite shows on CBC Radio is “Ideas”.  It is a wonderful show that discusses “ideas” with a variety of truly interesting people (and that thankfully does not include the Kardashians).  Last week one of the guests was the noted primatologist (amongst other appropriate labels) Jane Goodall.  The scope of the discussion was wide-ranging and centered on a talk titled “Hope” that she was giving. 

Host Paul Kennedy is a wonderful interviewer with great insights and a curiosity to look beyond the obvious.  The conversation got around to Ms. Goodall’s lack of a formal education.  Perhaps a rude topic to bring up, but also likely a safe one as I suspect Jane Goodall has accomplished so much that she has enough self-esteem that she does not need to be kowtowed to by an obsequious host.  When Paul Kennedy asked what the effect was of Ms. Goodall not having any formal education when she started studying the chimpanzees her response was that a lack of a formal education was an “enormous advantage”!  She continues to state that she was “very glad” that she was not at all formally trained.

I thought it was interesting to contrast that with today’s insistence of only hiring those with the proper formal credentials.  I realize this is something that I have written about many times before, but the points are worth repeating.  You do not need formal credentials in order to be able to think.  The second point being that a formal education can be very limiting as it produces one way of thinking that is often at the expense of other more novel or more appropriate ways of thinking.  Good insights and instincts – whether they be for studying chimpanzees or for managing risk - do not necessarily need formal education in order to exist.

For those who are interested in hearing the full Jane Goodall interview with Paul Kennedy on Ideas, the link is here.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2676759495

Spring Cleaning

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

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It’s that time of year again when many homes go through a spring cleaning.  The broken stuff gets tossed, while the unused stuff gets sent to the charity bin at the shopping centre.  Spring cleaning is a lot of hard work, but almost everyone likes the look and feel of their house much better after it is done.  Clutter is gone, things are easier to find, the rooms seem brighter and smell cleaner and overall the house seems fresher and more optimistic. 

If spring cleaning does that much to improve a house, how much will spring cleaning your risk management do for your corporation?  What parts of your risk management are broken and should be sent to the trash?  How much has been unused for so long that no one can remember why that particular process was put in place to begin with?  What corners need a deep cleaning to get out the accumulated dirt that gets missed by the more casual cleanings?

Spring cleaning freshens and improves a house and it freshens and improves risk management as well.