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 [...]
Archive for the ‘Risk management’ Category
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 »
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 [...]
Rant about mobile phones and E. coli
Posted in Books, Humour, My Opinions, Risk management, tagged Android, BlackBerry, E. coli, Fast Food Nation, hand washing, iPhone, shit on October 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The book Fast Food Nation was one of my favourites when I read it years ago specifically the chapter about the risks of E. coli and the meat packing industry. One of the most memorable quotes I know came from this book: “There is shit in the meat”. Well I guess now we can say [...]
Risk management oldies but goodies
Posted in Books, ERM Basics, Frameworks, Humour, My Opinions, Office and culture, Risk management, tagged assess, Buffet, CEO, CRO, derivatives, enterprise risk, ERM, Grover, HR, Riskczar, technology, The Monster at the End of This Book, wireless on October 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The good folks at Riskviews got me thinking about my least read posts. I’ve been doing this for a few years and understand that no one wants to scroll through over 300 blog entries to find some gems from 2006. So here are a few items you may have missed that might be worth your [...]
Riskczar Comics – The CEO and the risk report
Posted in comics, Humour, Risk management, tagged comics, risk culture, risk report, Riskczar on September 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s my first crack at an illustrated view of risk management in the world today. If you would like to see more of these please leave a comment at riskczar.com or @riskczar (as I probably have about 20 more ideas waiting to be drawn). Riskczar Comics #1
Oswald Grübel’s moment of wrongness
Posted in Books, Risk management, tagged Kathryn Schulz, Kweku Adoboli, Maureen Miskovic, Oswald Grübel, Oswald Gruebel, wrong, wrongness on September 23, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I just had the pleasure of watching author Kathryn Schulz’s TED video about being wrong. As I watched I couldn’t help thinking about Oswald Grübel’s “moment of wrongness”: when he learned about UBS’s $2 billion trading loss. Last November Grübel went on record saying “Risk is our business. I can assure you, as long as I’m [...]
They will always find a way to screw you
Posted in ERM Basics, Frameworks, Humour, Office and culture, Risk management, tagged Andrew Hill, AS/NZS 4360, COSO ERM, ERM, FT, Globe and Mail, ISO 31000, Maureen Miskovic, Oswald Grübel, risk culture, risk management, UBS on September 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I worked about six shifts at a Burger King in a shopping mall when I was in my teens. I quit because I didn’t care much for wearing the brown pants and hairnet. On my final night, the closing shift, I helped the veterans take the trash out. When we got to the Dumpster my [...]
There’s risk in relying on risk managers
Posted in ERM Basics, Frameworks, My Opinions, Risk management, tagged Andrew Hill, Carsten Kengeter, delta, FT, Globe and Mail, Kweku Adoboli, maure, Oswald Grübel, UBS on September 20, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Andrew Hill from the Financial Times writes there’s risk in relying on risk managers. He also notes that despite Carsten Kengeter’s assertion: “We will not rest until we have controls that are as watertight as possible”, we all know that organizations cannot function without taking any risk. Banks and investment banks are in the business [...]
CEO Oswald Gruebel reacts to UBS fraud [humour]
Posted in Humour, Risk management, tagged Adoboli, delta, derivatives, fraud, Ghana, Maureen Miskovic, Oswald Grübel, risk management, rogue, Suisse, Swiss, Swiss bank, Switzerland, trader, UBS on September 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a reenactment of how UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel reacted when he learned about the $2 billion fraud. (That is Colin Firth portraying Gruebel on the left.) http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DxJvGE7Vvd4M
