Video from The Risk Doctor Partnership, featuring Dr David Hillson, The Risk Doctor.
David is a popular keynote speaker on risk, and has spoken around the globe to audiences ranging from small in-house teams to major international conferences. Why not invite him to speak at your event? (mailto:david@risk-doctor.com?subject=Speaking%20Enquiry)
The Risk Doctor Partnership offers a range of effective risk consultancy services through our global network of senior risk experts. Visit our website to find out more. www.risk-doctor.com
🌱🌾🌻🌿🫒🍇🍒🍋 Bonjour a tous, Merci encore Mr. Dr. David Hillson, Les amis sont les bienvenus ABC of Risk Culture, Prof. Malcolm Anderson , Risk in Developing Countries the cost of governments of a significant disaster which necessitates, the world bank group in term of policy, Thank you Dr. David Hillson , great teaching, a beautiful video , enjoy in good health, l feel great, Let´s carry on, Have a nice day everyone
Thank you Menaf, I'm glad you liked this video. (I'm not sure why you include the comment about Prof Malcolm Anderson and the World Bank - perhaps this was an error?)
Hi John, long time no contact! This is the book I first mentioned to you in May 2017! I ignored your professional advice and put a hurricane photo on the cover! I hope you like it - I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I think it offers great advice to business leaders and their risk advisers on how to deal with corporate crisis. All feedback welcome.
Hi Lettie. This book is out already, since 2022. You can order from the publisher here: www.bkconnection.com/books/title/Taming-the-Risk-Hurricane Or you can get it from Amazon in paperback or Kindle formats here: www.amazon.co.uk/Taming-Risk-Hurricane-Significant-Disruption/dp/152300049X
Thank you for the new edition. Your videos on risk management has helped me a lot . My sincere gratitude!! Since this year I have decided to focus on learning about risk management, I will buy this book . Would appreciate suggestions on your other resources as well to enhance understanding of this vital subject.
Thanks for deciding to buy this book Shrinivas - I hope you find it useful. There is free worldwide shipping as well, including to India. This book focuses on project risk management. To discover more about managing risk in projects, I recommend my 2020 book "Practical Project Risk Management" (www.bkconnection.com/books/title/Practical-Project-Risk-Management-Third-Edition), which describes a detailed scaleable methodology that can be applied to any project. If you want a broad understanding of many different types of risk, i suggest "The Risk Management Handbook" (www.koganpage.com/product/the-risk-management-handbook-9781398610613). i hope this helps.
Thank you Alexei, I'm glad these videos are helpful for you. From your name, I wonder if you might speak Russian? The Risk Doctor Briefing series is available on our website in Russian (and six other languages) here: risk-doctor.com/briefings/ You might like to take a look.
Hi, my name is Cahyo from Jogjakarta, Indonesia! According to ISO 31000, risk is defined as the "effect of uncertainty on objectives." When I create an "ACTIVITY," that activity has an objective. I need to identify risks that affect the objective of that activity. How can I differentiate between risks that affect the "objective of the activity" and risks that affect the activity itself? Sometimes, we fear potential problems that might arise in the future regarding the activity, but not the objective. How can I differentiate between these two types of risks?
Hi Cahyo, thanks for your question. I don't think you need to differentiate between these two. We undertake an activity in order to achieve something (the objective). So any uncertainty that affects our ability to perform or complete the activity will also affect whether the objective is achieved. In fact, in the end they are the same thing. I hope this makes sense. Also I see that you talk about "potential problems that might arise in the future". It is important to remember that the concept of risk also includes upside as well as downside. Not all risks are threats (potential problems). Some risks are opportunities (potential benefits). The risk process must manage both - minimise threats and maximise opportunities in order to optimise achievement of objectives.
That's absolutely right Shekhar! It only matters if it can affect one or more objectives. If it can't affect any of our objectives, then it's an irrelevant uncertainty that doesn't matter!
Hi Elenah. Is this video being used for a course assignment? I'm interested to know more details - what is the assignment about? David (The Risk Doctor)
Thanks Elenah. I hope this very short video was useful to you and your classmates, and that you succeed in managing your risks effectively. I wish you well in your studies.
Hi Melissa, I'm really glad this was helpful. I didn't think about using these six questions to overcome writer's block, but it makes sense: “What am I trying to achieve?” Write 500 good words by the end of the day. “What could affect me?” Distracted by phone calls. Get hungry. Waste time watching RU-vid videos. “Which of these are most important?” RU-vid! “What will I do about it?” Disconnect computer from internet so I can’t use RU-vid. (Also set phone to silent, and stop for mid-morning coffee & snack.) “Did it work?” Yes! I’ve written 732 words by lunchtime - but they’re not very good. “What’s changed?” Now I need to edit these 732 draft words down to around 500 good words by the end of the day. “What could affect me?”… I'll try this next time I'm working on a writing project. Thanks!!
I like to remind people that the purpose of the company includes maximising the risk adjusted return to shareholders (just see the Sharpe ratio). therefore it is all about risk efficiency. And Unless we measure risk we cannot calculate the performance, which is return divided by risk. I think the efficient frontier illustration would have been helpful in this video. This concept is arguably the most important part of risk management in my opinion, as management should be optimising for the highest risk/return, within the companies risk appetite. In the absence of managements inherent agency risk(that they want to save their jobs), the only reason I can imagine for risk appetite to be other than the optimal risk/return frontier, would be perhaps bankruptcy risk (cost of breaking down/setting up companies). Or perhaps risk appetite of non shareholder stakeholders such as environment/community . thoughts?
Thanks for this comment Robert. I agree entirely. This short video is an interview, and the format doesn't include figures or slides, so it wasn't possible for me to show a risk efficiency graph. But in other presentations and some of my books I refer to risk efficiency and explain the importance of the risk efficient frontier, especially when building and managing programmes and portfolios. I've also always emphasised to clients that the goal of risk management is to enable you to take more risk, and to take the right risks safely. Understanding and quantifying the risk/return balance is vital in supporting this approach. Thanks again for raising this important point.
Failure is a symptom of incompetence. Our job histories & performance histories follow us everywhere, and repeated failures cannnot be escaprd or overcome. Repeated failures mean lost opportunities; failure is the *worst* way to learn.
00:45 You only make decisions where something is uncertain. 01:35 We only need to make decisions where there is 1) uncertainty 2)the outcome matters. 3)Risk is Uncertainty is matters. 2:00 the only decisions we make in a business are decisions that matter. We should have decision making that is Informed by risk information. We understand the uncertainties and why they matter so within that context we can make a good decision 2:40 Risk based decision making is making decisions that we need to make (at all levels) where there is uncertainty where it matters and aware of risk that impact that decision. 3:00 we need to understand how risks impact the decisions we will make + 3:15 communication to decision makers so they have access of that information when they make the decisions. Risk professionals need to be able to therefore speak to decision makers at all levels 3:36 CEO needs risk advisor to speak to them to advise on the uncertainties that matter to the decision. 3:55 examples of PMO/HR 4:25 Summary - Decisions are only about uncertain things that matter, they are ALWAYS about Risk
Hi David. Thank you for your video. This is really helpful. I have a question: Where do we categorise the risks that arises from managing our employees? Will it be under the management heading? Thank you.
Hi Wisi, I'm glad you enjoyed this video. It is most common for risks arising from employee management to be categorised under the "Management" heading in the Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS). But the RBS should be constructed to represent the sources of risk that might arise for a specific business or organisation - so it is possible for you to put employee risks somewhere else. For example, if all your staff are actually self-employed as independent contractors, you might categorise employee risks under "Commercial". The point is to group risks in a way that makes sense for your business, to help you understand where risks are coming from and whether there are any concentrations that require focused attention. I hope this helps.
Yes I agree. Many years ago I learned an important phrase: "Slow down to speed up." It sounds strange, but the idea is that if we move too fast we end up making avoidable mistakes which we have to spend time fixing later. But if we slow down and take care, then overall we spend less time. But... Sometimes there are time constraints which must be met, which might make it hard to slow down. This is one reason why risk management is important - to stop us making avoidable mistakes by identifying and treating threats, and also to help us to work faster by finding and capturing opportunities.
I am happy to declare that Dr. David is my role model in risk management. I do try as much as possible to adopt the way you explain the risk management concepts. I hope after several years of my active engagegement in risk management practices, my expertise will increase as much as possible.
Thanks for this positive and encouraging feedback Hamenya. I'm really pleased that you are inspired to develop your skills in managing risk wherever you encounter it, and I'm glad that these videos are helpful to you. I wish you success.
Very briliant indeed. Dr. Hillson's expertise in risk management is beyond expectations. He explains the concepts in a very soft language, and briefly, but very easy to grasp them.
Thanks Hamenya. My motto is "Understand deeply so you can explain simply". Actually risk management isn't really hard, it's about asking and answering questions, being curious and persistent, and motivated to find out what's possible.
What an interesting question, thank you! I watched the video again and I still believe the same, but we've definitely moved on. This video was recorded in September 2018, and I say that I expect things to change in the near future, maybe in 2 years or 5 years or 10 years. We are now 6 years later, and things have definitely developed! I see some of the elements of intelligence emerging in the latest iterations of AI, and there are some attempts at regulation and building in safeguards, but with little consensus. Development of AI presents both threats and opportunities, and we need to be aware and prepared. In March 2023, the UN produced a report on "existential risk" which focuses on artificial intelligence and biotechnology as major drivers of accelerating change, so perhaps this will focus minds. This is a fascinating and important area - thanks for raising it. What do you think?
Currently deciding my topic for my Thesis paper. Your channel has greatly influenced me and there is a high chance that I may do my reseach on Risk Management for my Masters degree
Comment from IPM Day attendee: "I recently started working as a PMI-RMP, and this presentation gave me several interesting ideas to develop my functions. Thanks a lot!"
Comment from IPM Day attendee: "Great introduction of foundational concepts of Futures Thinking and Complexity. The presenter provides a linear user-friendly explanation of the methodology and logically justifies why it makes sense to use this Project Continuity Assurance mechanism. Would appreciate a second round with a couple of case studies with examples of the successful application of the methodology and the key challenges identified so far in its adoption."
Comment from IPM Day attendee: “Thank you for an excellent and well-articulated presentation on managing risks in complex projects. Emergent risks are not usually understood, and this presentation helps us to be adaptive to address them as they arise.”
Comment from IPM Day attendee: “Excellent talk, with practical insights to manage risks in complex projects. The 'Project Continuity Management' idea is brilliant.”
Comment from IPM Day attendee: “Dear Dr. David Hillson - your talk is so engrossing and with tons and tons of information. Really thankful for such a wonderful presentation Sincere thanks.”
