December 10, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Learn, Don’t Ruminate, About Past Disruptions

By Melanie Lockwood Herman “That could have been so much worse!” I replied to a friend telling me about his disrupted morning commute due to a tire sidewall failure on a busy highway. After the conversation ended, it occurred to...

December 2, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Maximize Your Risk Learning in 2025

By Rachel Sams In early 2023, I attended a webinar that encouraged nonprofits to approach artificial intelligence with curiosity, rather than fear. At the time, the explosion of generative AI, which allows users to create text and other media, gave...

November 12, 2024

Resource Type: Articles, Risk eNews

Optimist or Pessimist? Risk Management Needs Both.

By Melanie Lockwood Herman I’ve just returned from a wonderful vacation with a college friend I’ve known for many decades. During our adventures in a place neither of us knew much about, we reveled in our shared interests and marveled...

October 2, 2024

Resource Type: Articles, Risk eNews

Obsessing Over Risk Issues? That’s OK, If You Do It Right.

“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.” - Daniel Kahneman I remember when the Calvin Klein cologne “Obsession” debuted in the mid-1980s. I was (and still am) a cynic who...

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August 28, 2024

Resource Type: Articles, Risk eNews

Risk Register Redux

Throughout the year I hear from risk leaders who tell me they are either ‘still using’ or are ‘back to using’ a risk register, an impractical tool from risk management antiquity that refuses to be forgotten. Although many risk functions...

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August 7, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

It’s OK to Laugh About Risk Management. Really.

While prepping for an upcoming speaking engagement, my point of contact warned me: “Don’t be surprised if members of the audience share humorous anecdotes and comments when you invite their participation.” This news was a great relief! Before walking up...

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June 19, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Keep Calm and Carry on Embracing Possibilities

“Possibilities are always more interesting than facts. We shouldn’t frown on fact, but our world is congested with them. But for every fact that becomes a fact, there are seven, eight, maybe five hundred possibilities hanging around in the background...

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June 12, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Fortify Your Pillars of Resilience

In his chapter on “Resilient, Net Positive Leadership” featured in the book Certain Uncertainty, Andrew Winston questions the wisdom of an economy that “values efficiency above all.” Winston explains that while obsessive efficiency “certainly keeps costs down… it’s completely unfit for...

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May 8, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Into the Deep: Your Six-Week Risk Challenge (It’s Not About Carbs)

Collecting data (what keeps you up at night?), sorting data (let’s sort these risks by likelihood and impact scores), and promising protection (here’s a list of all the things we’re doing to mitigate our risks) are famously familiar tasks in...

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March 6, 2024

Resource Type: Risk eNews

Think of It This Way, That Way, or Another Way

One of my favorite sleep apps encourages insomniac users to say the mantra “Don’t Think” over and over while listening to a distracting noise pattern. I’ve learned that green is my favorite distracting “noise” and “don’t think” is a helpful...

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