So why have I posted a photo of a book by Stephen King?
As leaders and managers we have to address the risks in our business. Whether or not we are accredited to ISO 31000, we should ensure we have identified the risks to our business and our risk appetite (how much risk we are prepared to bear). Risk can also, of course, be seen as an opportunity, and a risk averse organisation is one that won't take the chance and this in turn leads to stagnation and ultimately the demise of the business.
But how do we ensure we, or our business as a whole, are aware of all the risks?
We identify and assess the risks putting in place strategies to manage them. Or we have in-house or external advice who examine the business: the internal and external factors influencing that business; our strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities etc etc. It is unfortunately easy to fail to identify a risk because we overlook it or consider it as something harmless.
Which brings me to the book. This title has probably sold many hundreds of thousands of copies since it was published in 1980; and unless you knew, if it was sitting on your bookshelf, maybe an inherited copy, you might just think it was a hardback copy of a good book. If you knew it was a first edition you might just value it more highly and ensure it was insured, thus covering the risk of theft! Good - that's risk management in practice.
But this has other risks to you and anyone that handles it... the cover is made using asbestos! If you don't know this, you are exposing yourself and others to risk. And so something that looks insignificant can indeed be a risk.
Risk Management is not easy - we need to look inside the business from an external perspective; one that is not fettered by confirmation bias or making assumptions on what we see day-to-day and overlook something that could be hiding a risk we haven't identified.
As an aside, copies of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the dystopian novel that involves book burning were also issued with asbestos covers, presumably because of the protective qualities of asbestos. 26 were issued in total, and, ironically, one was destroyed in a fire!
