1 minute read
Editorial
Editorial
Meet your future self
Over the past couple of years or so, there has been a subtle but decisive shift in how risk managers see and talk about themselves. Obviously, the pandemic has upturned all our former certainties. But I think this change has more to do with the maturity of the profession itself.
Enterprise risk management implies both an organisationwide approach to risk and a forward-looking attitude to seek out emerging threats that could stand in the way of strategic goals. This approach has helped risk managers get closer to the board in many businesses and to support critical decision-making.
Personal qualities
Even so, a compliance focus has remained strong – rightly so in many areas. But a compliance mindset entails thinking more about tools and techniques than personal skills and professional development.
Herein lies the crux of the recent change. Instead of only asking, “what technical skills do risk managers need to serve their organisations?”, people are increasingly focusing on what personal and professional qualities risk managers need to thrive in fast-moving, uncertain environments. It is a world in which risk professionals can flip their thinking from threat to opportunity and back again as needed for the business and its stakeholders.
Emerging professional
This emphasis is evident in at least three of the features in this issue. It is one of the reasons behind Emma Fowler’s suggestion that chief risk officers could be seen as natural successors to their chief executive officers (Bridge to the future, pp 16-20). It is the type of person Robert Chanon describes as “a new type of hybrid risk manager” in our focus on Europe.
And it is one of the challenges IRM faces in overhauling its Professional Standards as I discovered when I interviewed Simona Fionda for our cover story. As well as better integrating the many new qualifications and training IRM has created since the Standards launched back in 2015, the new guidance needs to act as an overarching set of principles and practices relevant to all practitioners. It is not just about technical skills but also about the competencies all risk managers need to develop to thrive in today’s world.
If you want a say in that future, get involved.
Arthur Piper Editor
