Monthly Archives: July 2010

Risk managers make terrific beekeepers too

July 30, 2010

I read a blog post titled, How a Risk Manager Could Help Your Business where the author makes the point that any small business could benefit from a well trained risk manager. I agree. Well trained risk managers could work for any small business to clean its toilets, to operate its forklifts or slice meats at its deli counter. It’s just not very likely that your overqualified risk manager will actually be hired by your small business to manage risks. The blogger at ReadyInsuranceNewsletters.com submit that small businesses should consult a risk management professional because “big business entities routinely invest…

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White swan vs black swan

July 29, 2010

I received a nice email from John Fraser the other day, thanking me spreading the good word about ERM through this website. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Fraser, he co-wrote what I consider to be the best 14 pages ever written about ERM: The Rise and Evolution of the Chief Risk Officer: Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One. (And there are diagrams and big fonts so it’s actually less than 14 pages.) Mr. Fraser also recently wrote a book with Betty Simkins, Enterprise Risk Management: Today’s Leading Research and Best Practices for Tomorrow’s Executives. I have not read…

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Work vs Life

July 13, 2010

In a departure from my usual diatribes about risk management, I had some thoughts on work-life (im)balance. Some argue that work-life balance is a misnomer. I read it should be called work-life management since there never is a balance. The best one can do is to manage each one.  A recent study by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing suggests that societies, workplaces and families have changed the way they are spending their work/leisure time and has identified trends with negative consequences:  –        Working adults are spending more time commuting between work and home. On a related point, people who travel…

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