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 the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms that defends the realm from “what lies North [...]
Archive for the ‘Risk management’ Category
The Night’s Watch and the Wall of risk management
Posted in Books, leadership, My Opinions, Risk management, tagged A Game of Thrones, audit, CRO, Night's Watch, risk management, Wall, Westeros on January 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The black swans and Field of Dreams
Posted in ERM Basics, Frameworks, Risk management, Sports, tagged baseball, Black Swan, Field of Dreams, hockey, PwC ERM, tail risk, Taleb on January 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I wrote about a white paper “Black Swans Turn Grey” from PwC. Here’s a footnote to that post. I had a good chuckle when I read about these “new black swan risks”. The authors suggest that all these unknown unknowns and unpredictable events are happening more frequently these days. This of course is [...]
How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich: Donald van Deventer
Posted in Humour, PBJ Sandwich, Risk management, tagged Don van Deventer, Hawaii, how to make a peanut butter sandwich, Japan on January 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »
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 risk management professionals might make their own sandwich. In my first PBJ post, we looked [...]
The iPhone 4S of enterprise risk management
Posted in Frameworks, My Opinions, Risk management, Thought Leadership, tagged audit, Black Swan, change management, ERM, iPhone, leadership, PwC ERM, risk management, Taleb on January 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Last year Apple released the iPhone 4S and critics pointed out it was pretty much the iPhone 4 with a big-s glued on. Although there were some minor improvements from the iPhone 4, overall it was pretty much the same phone. After reading the ERM white paper “Black Swans Turn Grey” from PwC, it [...]
Angry Birds risk management
Posted in Humour, My Opinions, Risk management, tagged Android, angry birds, prioritize, risk, risk management, risk treatment, Strategy, tactics on January 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been playing quite a bit of Angry Birds ever since I got my Samsung Galaxy Tab for my birthday. I love this game. The objective of course is for birds (each with their unique strengths) to destroy the structures – where all the pigs who have stolen the birds’ eggs – are hiding. When [...]
Felix Kloman, the Rocket and risk management
Posted in Books, League of Extraordinary Risk Gentlemen, Risk management, Thought Leadership, tagged ERM, Felix Kloman, hockey on November 22, 2011 | 1 Comment »
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 Reports or look for his books The Fantods of Risk and Mumpsimus Revisited: Essays on [...]
Gladwell, crashing planes and risk management
Posted in Books, ERM Basics, My Opinions, Office and culture, Risk management, tagged airlines, airplane, CRO, culture, Gladwell, risk culture, risk manager, risk officer on November 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
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 misfortunes and rarely because of one event. Our respective cultures dictate how we work and [...]
Dan Gardiner, optimism and iceberg risk
Posted in Books, My Opinions, Risk management, tagged bias, Dan Gardner, Future Babble, overconfidence, risk management, Titanic, truth on November 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Dan Gardner writes in Chapter 3 of his book Future Babble: “Overconfidence is a universal human trait closely related to an equally widespread phenomenon known as ‘optimism bias’.” This overconfidence often leads us to assess our risks poorly. We all know about the captain of the Titanic who must have been extremely optimistic before that [...]
Riskczar Haiku #1
Posted in My Opinions, Risk management, tagged Greece, haiku, risk management on November 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This is Riskczar’s first risk management-related haikus. Riskczar Haiku #1 A referendum? You really want debt default George Papandreou?
Evacuating the Building Because of a Zombie Infection
Posted in Humour, Risk management, tagged BCM, BCP, CDC, emergency, evacuation, fire drill, infection, zombie on October 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
To be read in association with the post: ”Tips on writing a zombie evacuation memo“. There are many reasons – including fire or bomb threats – that require us to evacuate the building but it is equally important that we prepare for other threats such as an evacuation because of a zombie infection. You may laugh [...]
