Category: General Risk Management

By: Katharine Nesslage Every spring, I get an itch to spruce up my home and garden with colorful, cheerful plants. Similarly, risk leaders often feel inspired to do some spring cleaning and infuse their risk programs with new practices to make them brighter and more impactful. To scratch my gardening itch, I visited an outdoor … Continued

By Whitney Claire Thomey This Saturday is International Haiku Poetry Day, leading me to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned from this simple form of poetry—the humble haiku. If you’re wondering how this pint-sized poem has the potential to teach risk leaders important lessons about evolving organizational risk practices, I invite you to read on! … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman If you’ve ever faced a personal crisis or a crisis at your organization, you know how all-consuming and paralyzing it can be. It’s hard to see beyond the hour or the day when the bad news keeps coming. During these stressful moments, you may find yourself flip-flopping between options or second-guessing … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman One of the most common risk management tools is a detailed list or inventory of ‘threats’ facing an organization. Many risk leaders refer to their ever-expanding, sometimes colossal spreadsheet as a “risk register.” During our 25 years of guiding risk teams through risk analysis, we’ve discovered that risk inventories and registers … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman As I shared last week, the term “book smart” is an adjective meaning “Having knowledge acquired from books or study; scholarly, bookish; frequently implying lack of common sense or worldliness.” (Source: Lexico.) And although ‘book smart’ is often a pejorative term, my bias is that reading is the ultimate learning tool. … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman According to Lexico, a collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press, the term “book smart” is an adjective meaning “Having knowledge acquired from books or study; scholarly, bookish; frequently implying lack of common sense or worldliness.” Although ‘book smart’ is often a pejorative term, my bias is that reading is the … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman “You can never win or lose. If you don’t run the race.” – Love My Way by The Psychedelic Furs Driving home one Valentine’s Day my radio was tuned to 1st Wave on Sirius/XM and a special program featuring love songs from the 1980s. First up was one of my favorites, … Continued

By Eric Henkel Changing your mind and reversing a previous decision generally seems like something to avoid. However, it may be the best thing to do when new information makes it prudent to do so. A recent New York Times article about peanut allergies discusses new guidelines issued by the National Institute of Allergy and … Continued

By Erin Gloeckner This holiday season has been a hectic one for me. The eve of Thanksgiving Day, I drove a few hours to visit family in West Virginia, and I hit a buck on the highway going 70 MPH. Miraculously my boyfriend Alex, my dog Hugo and I were not hurt, but the hood … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman This month I’ve been reading Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing, by Jamie Holmes. One of the memorable reminders in the book is about the importance of learning, something my team has been focused on recently as we prepare to unveil our 2017 line-up of risk-learning and leadership opportunities for nonprofit … Continued

By Eric Henkel You probably regularly encounter situations where you are convinced that you know exactly what is going on, only to find out that things are the exact opposite of what you thought. When it comes to how we view our environment and the people we interact with, there is often a disconnect between … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman “When the road looks rough ahead, and you’re miles and miles from your nice warm bed… you just remember what your old pal said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a friend in me.'” – You’ve Got a Friend In Me, by Randy Newman (from the movie Toy Story) In her article titled, “Do … Continued

By Melanie Lockwood Herman A colleague recently sent me a copy of “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization,” a book organized around a short list of simple but provocative and powerful questions. In a series of essays authored by familiar management luminaries, the book offers a straightforward way to … Continued

Have you ever done a good deed just to realize later that it resulted in some unintended, negative consequence? Perhaps this realization came after implementing new risk management practices at your nonprofit. After reading a CEB report titled 'Reducing Risk Management's Organizational Drag,' I agreed with the authors' perspective that risk management can sometimes result … Continued

September 30, 2015 by Melanie Lockwood Herman Throughout my life I’ve shied away from buying items of clothing that prominently advertise a corporate brand. As a child I recall my father saying that if he were ever to purchase a shirt featuring a certain reptile emblem, he would immediately cut it off before wearing it. … Continued