Thomas M. Bragg on Business Risk Management

www.clearrisk.com

I am honored that Craig and his team at ClearRisk Inc. accepted one of my posts for publication in the ClearRisk blog. The post is titled “10 Steps to a SMB Risk Management Process“.

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The Post’s Backstory

Over the last week or so, I’ve been contemplating the information I’ve seen on the web about business risk management. Read the rest of this entry »

Image by UnstablePixel via Flickr

It was a lightbulb moment. A few weeks back, a friend and I were talking about  the tendency of some companies to analyze and hold meetings, hold meetings and analyze, discuss, research and discuss again without taking any action. We were interested in the root cause of the perpetual analysis (a.k.a. analysis paralysis). Was it an extreme desire for precision and perfection? Or was it a fear of making mistakes? Read the rest of this entry »

In my opinion, few business people recognize that risk has a very real (and substantial) value. The lack of recognition is understandable – it’s hard to put a convincing numerical value on a risk that may or may not occur. But every now and then, an event comes along that provides a quantified glimpse of risk’s value. I was a witness to one of those rare events. Here’s the story… Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been keeping score at home, you’ve noticed that I’ve used the word ‘formal’ quite a bit. In fact, in one poorly worded post I suggested that “the (risk management) process doesn’t have to be formal” and got called to the carpet in a comment by Kristen. She was absolutely correct in stating that the process really does have to be formalized – meaning performed consistently and methodically – but doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive or burdensome (a point I attempted, and failed, to make).

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That exchange was a good example of how the word ‘formal’ can be misused or at least have different meanings to different people. In my last post about cost benefit analysis, I was again throwing around the f-word (no, not that one…) somewhat carelessly. Let’s take a step back and explore what really characterizes a “formal” process. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a Quiz For You

What do these decisions have in common?

• Is it wise for me to invest in new equipment for my business?
• Should I respond to the irate customer’s email or just let it go?
• Is the best route turning left, turning right or going straight?
• Should I have beef or chicken for dinner tonight?
• Should I wear the blue shirt or the green shirt today?

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Give up? Read the rest of this entry »

If you will allow me to indulge, I want to take a step away from the uber-tight focus on risk management for a minute. I was on a tele-conference today. During the conversation I shared that my dream is for my company to evolve into a “sales organization” that does engineering services rather than an “engineering organization” that does sales.

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On the other end of the call, Paul asked me what I meant. I’ve been thinking about the topic ever since and I’d like to share my thoughts with you. The distinction isn’t limited to only engineering services companies. It applies to every type of business out there. Read the rest of this entry »