Taming the Risk Hurricane: Preparing for Major Business Disruption

A leading expert on risk management describes how to steer your company through a risk hurricane-the extreme risk exposure that can lead to major disruption for your business.

Risk management has become a standard part of the strategic tool kit, providing senior leaders with a forward-looking radar to scan the future and give early warnings of approaching threats and opportunities. However, even best-in-class organizations can falter in the face of extreme risk exposure. Special circumstances demand special responses, and extreme risk exposure needs very careful handling. Routine risk management approaches will fall short, but businesses that demonstrate a high degree of flexibility and resilience will have the competitive advantage and the ability to thrive where others fail.

The causes and consequences of meteorological hurricanes have parallels in the way uncontrolled risk exposure can develop in organizations. Both are caused largely by predictable factors, but both are characterized by sustained uncertainty and severe impact once they develop. If we can learn to predict a risk hurricane, prepare for it effectively, and survive its effects, then our organizations will be well placed to address the challenge of extreme risk exposure, if and when we are unfortunate enough to face it.

About the Author

Dr. David Hillson, the Risk Doctor, is an international thought leader in risk management. He has advised leaders and organizations around the world on how to create value from risk, based on a mature approach to risk management. He also shares his insights regularly through his speaking and writing, based on his motto "Understand deeply so you can explain simply." Dr. Hillson has received many awards for his groundbreaking work in risk management and has developed significant innovations that are now widely accepted as best practice.