Greg Hutchins - Thought Leader

Guest Post by Bill Pomfret (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

True risks are often different than perceived risks. Due to human curiosity, the desire to sell news, 24-hour-a-day news blitz, and current trends, some folks have a distorted sense of risks. Most often, people fear the lesser or trivial risks and fail to respect the significant dangers faced every day.

We live in a dangerous world. Yet it is also a world safer in many ways than it has ever been. Life expectancy is up. Infant mortality is down. Diseases that only recently were mass killers have been all but eradicated. Advances in public health, medicine, environmental regulation, food safety, and worker protection have dramatically reduced many of the major risks we faced just a few decades ago.

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I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful.
Elon Musk – Entrepreneur

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robots conjure images of killer robots like the Terminator movie.

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Guest Post by Howard Wiener (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

If you are running a business today, you probably incorporate digital elements in your products and services.  At the very least, you employ digital technology in the operation of your business.  It’s likely that you have adopted an Agile framework and possibly even DevOps processes.  It’s also likely that you are not getting the productivity boost from it that you should.

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What happens if an autonomous AI robot has preemptive authority to use deadly force to ensure its safety or the public’s safety ?  We are not too far from this when autonomous robots will have risk based, problem solving and decision making capabilities and even statutory authorities.

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave the San Francisco Police Department authority to use killer robots.  The vote was 8 to 3 to approve robo cops.  San Francisco is the most liberal city in the United States. Oakland and other cities are thinking the same.

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There are several risk management solutions that organisations can implement to strengthen their organisational culture to create a positive ‘risk culture’ outcome.

These organisational practices include:

1. Create an accountable organisation.
2. Implement the appropriate organisational design.
3. Create awareness of the strategic benefits of risk management.
4. Create an effective risk governance structure.
5. Create an effective risk function.
6. Hire the right personality to head the risk function.
7. Create a just and psychologically safe culture.
8. Formalise informal risk communications.
9. Create clear escalation and reporting pathways and trigger points.
10. Simplify risk management tools, activities, and processes.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Seeing eye dogs, or guide dogs, are so well trained that they know right from wrong.  Even though their ‘master’ gives an order the trained canine won’t obey unless it’s safe; and that’s what we call intelligent disobedience.  The dog is praised for exhibiting such behaviour.  However, in corporate and project management circles, and despite the need for human intelligence enhanced through training, qualifications and experience, such behaviour is often branded as just plain disobedient.

Many organisations have some set of rules and regulations which govern expected norms of behaviour.  They form part of an organisation’s culture and such ‘expectations’ become some form of ethical standard.  Great…when there is ‘business as usual’.  But in a crisis standard operating procedures tend not to apply.  These situations, as well as people, can become heated and with heat can come fire and the tell-tale smoke that things aren’t quite right.

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Guest Post by Alex Sidorenko (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

In 2021, risk team implemented a quantitative risk-based approach to insurance renewals which resulted in reducing the cost of insurance by 60% and improving the quality of coverage across all insurance lines. This approach allowed us to save, or rather pay a fair price for insurance across the globe. Key to success was not to rely on market “best practices”, but on testing various hypotheses in the market and relying on data.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Communication…dictionarily is the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.  It’s essential to humankind and allows us to live, work, trade and co-exist.  It’s the basis of society, culture and civilizations and through communication there’s understanding and establishment of common beliefs.

Communication allows us to impart information, clarify such information and rectify misunderstandings.  Of course, if miscommunication occurs and is acted upon then mistakes may well happen, and these mistakes can then cause problems.  In Project Management such mistakes often result in delays, cost overruns, quality shortfalls, disputes and, possibly, project failure.

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Guest Post by Bill Pomfret (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Since the 1990s, organisations have attempted to improve safety culture. They have tried top-down approaches, with senior management making statements about how important safety is. They have tried bottom-up hearts and minds programs, encouraging workers to work safely, and stop if a job can’t be done safely. There have been great strides, and examples of success, such as the UK 2012 Olympic development.

However, many safety culture programs stall after some initial improvements. Senior managers have invested in the program. Workers on the frontline want to be safer and healthier. Sometimes the obstacles come from the middle managers and supervisors, who are invested in existing ways of doing things. For a busy manager there just isn’t time to get ahead with improvement programs while they are doing the day-to-day supervision and management tasks.

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The basic premises of how the economy works have shifted under our feet and the government will have to respond.
Gautam Mukunda – Writer

Can you imagine a conversation with a work Alexa giving you legal assistance instead of a human lawyer? Fasten your seatbelt. Legal and many other professions are being disrupted.

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Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Organisational cultures can either enable or inhibit effective risk management through either constructive or defensivebehavioural norms respectively.

When there is constructive organisational culture, people want to, rather than have to, manage risks and do good risk management. And when there is a defensive organisational culture, people avoid doing good risk management and only do risk management when they have to or are being forced, either by management or regulators, merely as a tick-the-box compliance exercise.

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Safety and sustainability are the major considerations within the growing electric vehicle industry, there is lots of excitement and lots of challenges in the fast-moving electric vehicle industry and both descriptions quickly work their way into the conversation.

• Gasoline- and diesel-powered cars are familiar, quick to refuel, and can travel long distances between fill-ups, all of which can’t (yet) necessarily be said about electric cars.
• EVs, however, bring with them a whole unique set of positives, from an inherently exhilarating drive feel to a significantly less harmful impact on the environment.
• The current knocks against EVs will be resolved in time as more people adopt the technology.

The electric car has gone mainstream with sleeker, more affordable options to choose from. Because electric car models are newer than their gas-powered counterparts, many consumers are unaware of their options aside from the many recently announced carmakers’ electric vehicles. In this article, we will focus purely on the pros and cons of all-electric cars.

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All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer – Philosopher

I’ve seen the Future Of Work. And, I don’t like it. Why? In Portland, Oregon, a retail store sells kombucha, a slightly alcoholic green or black tea. Great location. Great storefront. Sure money-maker!

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Guest Post by Matt Feldman (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

I get it, we all love the “easy” button. Whether it’s ordering groceries for delivery today, household items for delivery tomorrow, or a ride to the airport via a tap on your phone, we’ve gotten used to convenience and simplicity when it comes to solving problems.

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Guest Post by Alex Sidorenko (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

In the last 2 years my team was involved in automating risk management part for investment decision making, vendor accreditation, market risk, tender process, treasury management, credit risk and project management. That’s 8 different software packages selected from dozens of possible options. In this article I wanted to share some important takeaways from our risk management automation.

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