Many of us are familiar with Jean Valjean, the protagonist from Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, made more famous in the 80s thanks to the musical of the same name. In the story, Monsieur Valjean is sent to a prison…
You say risk management and I say shit management
I am always amazed that despite the enormous square footage of our planet and the tiny amount of poop produced by a bird that it is possible for my car to get hit. But it occurs despite how unlikely it…
Real Human Beings and the Elephant Man
Perhaps one of the most famous movie quotes from my childhood was from the 1980 movie ‘The Elephant Man‘ based on the life of Joseph (John) Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London. At one point in the…
You don’t need to mitigate every risk: Tire edition
There’s a nail in the tire of my wife’s car. Rear driver side. Fat head pushed all the way in. It caught her eye on the weekend by accident while the car sat in the driveway. Tire pressure appears normal.…
The Night’s Watch and the Wall of risk management
In the series A Song of Ice and Fire which begins with the book A Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin, we are introduced to the Wall and the Night’s Watch. The Wall is an immense fortification on…
How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich: Norman Marks
In my third instalment of this increasingly less funny series, we look at how popular auditor and blogger Norman Marks might make a PBJ sandwich. How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich: Norman Marks Add jam and peanut butter to bread. Perform…
How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich: Donald van Deventer
A website dedicated to the popular show Lost published a post a while back about how each of the characters on the show would make a peanut butter and jam sandwich. I have borrowed this idea to illustrate how some finance or…
Felix Kloman, the Rocket and risk management
I received an email from Felix Kloman last Friday. If you do not know about Mr. Kloman’s work, then I strongly suggest that you click on the Felix Kloman (Legend) link in my Blogroll to find his Risk Management…
Gladwell, crashing planes and risk management
In his book “Outliers”, author Malcolm Gladwell explains how “The kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication” as opposed to mechanical causes. Also, they usually happen after a sequence of mistakes and…
Tips on writing a zombie evacuation memo
One of the biggest risks about evacuating your office in the event of an emergency is getting people to actually evacuate safely. You can send all the emails you want about procedures but like the boy who cried were(wolf)…