Strategic Planning for Business Success blog by Richard Gourlay, MD of Cowden Consulting

When leaders think about risk management in business they are too often talking about legal compliance.  This is a common misunderstanding of risk by leaders, not seeing risk as primarily a strategic issue in business. This view of risk misses the strategic elements of risk, which leaders need to consider in defining their business model and in making strategic decisions. From start-up to exit risk is a strategic issue, which should underpin all strategic thinking.  
Developing leadership risk skills is an important element for leaders to understand that their approach to risk defines how the lead and what they lead. Strategic risk defines the type of business model that leaders develop through to which markets and where in them they choose to operate. 


Drawing up lots of rules and making sure that all employees follow them on the other hand can solve operational risk. Many such rules, of course, aresensible and do reduce some risks that could severely damage a company. But rules-based …