Risk of the human factor

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Risk of the human factor Can a Risk-Type Compass allow businesses to spot where their employees are taking too much of a gamble in their work? Carly Chynoweth Published: 13 November 2011

The art of risk

Sales people have to be willing to get out there and face failure

management lies in avoiding or managing the things that could go wrong without losing the opportunities that could go right. The standard approach is to think of it in rational, quantitative terms; people like clear documents because they create the impression that everything is shipshape and under control. Not everything can be prescribed in black and white, though. “People are a key variable,” said David Cooper, founder of Cooper Limon, the leadership consultancy. “Whether you build them into the system or not, they will have an impact. People are a source of friction, of grit in this pure, rational view of the world.” For example, the psychological make-up of the risk managers who create the quantitative analysis will affect what they leave out, what they include and what weight they give to each factor. “There is an


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