soft skills

29 Biases and Traps that Prevent Good Decision-Making

It seems like bias is everywhere in our world… Some bias is healthy and normal. We may have a bias for or against a certain sports team or those of us who are parents will naturally be biased toward our children. But when it comes to decision-making in our organizations, bias can lead to putting…

What a Calm Act of Heroism Can Teach Us about Risk Management

I remember the day well… I was in my office on a cold and blustery January day when news came of a plane crash in New York City, but unlike other crashes in times past, there were few injuries and no fatalities. Later dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson,” the events of that day were…

3 Simple Steps to Be Invited to Strategic Planning Sessions

One issue that executives, Board members, and other company leaders continue to raise in surveys and elsewhere is that ERM doesn’t provide strategic advantage or valuable insights to decision-making. Reports received by business unit and company leaders typically regurgitate a list of risks and rehash what they already know. As we discuss in this post…

Are Internal Risk Professionals Treated Differently Than External Consultants?

The short answer is an emphatic yes!!! But I know you have come to expect more from me, so let me expand on this a little… Going back to my days as an internal ERM practitioner in one of Florida’s largest property insurance companies, I can attest personally that internal risk professionals are treated differently…

Improve ERM Engagement with This One Subtle Shift

In a perfect world, business units and executives would be flocking to the ERM professional to find solutions to vexing problems facing the organization. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. In a 2018 survey, lack of engagement and executive buy-in was reported as the #1 challenge to implementing ERM effectively. To put it plainly – without engagement…

5 Key Personas of an Effective ERM Professional

When my blog was still pretty new, I published in early 2017 an article on the qualities of an effective ERM professional. Three years may not seem like a long time, but it is when considering how fast things are changing. Although the original article contains information that is still relevant today, I felt it…

8 Critically Important ERM Articles for Navigating Today’s New Reality

In this current environment, you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to ensure your company can not only weather the storm but emerge stronger on the other side. Just because many physical offices are closed doesn’t mean you should just sit on your hands waiting for things to open back up.…

How the Fourth Industrial Revolution will Reshape Risk Management

In the waning years of the 2010s, the term “fourth industrial revolution” is becoming a commonly heard phrase for describing the nature and pace of technological change expected to take place in the decades ahead. Other terms to describe this include cyber or digital revolution. What makes this revolution unique is that it not only…

Maximize your Impact as a Risk Professional by Developing Strategic Thinking Skills in 4 Steps

Being an effective risk professional in today’s business environment takes more than just technical knowledge of risk management techniques. If you want more info on those aspects for ERM, you can browse through my blog for a laundry list of topics, as well as various books and other online resources. But as explained in last…

Listening and Reading People – Two Underappreciated Skills Crucial to ERM Success

When you examine books and online resources about ERM (including my blog), you will find plenty of information on methods for identifying risks, assessing risks, establishing an ERM governance structure, and more. However, what often gets lost is the idea that there are other “soft” skills risk professionals must have in order for ERM to…

soft skills

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