Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Dont Know

Too many executives think risk management is strictly for technical specialists. In Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Don’t Know, David Apgar challenges this misconception. The author explains how to raise the quality of your risk analysis—-thus enhancing your “risk IQ”—-by applying four simple rules:
1) Recognize which risks are learnable—and reduce their uncertainty by discovering more about them.
2) Identify risks you can learn about the fastest. The higher your learning speed, the more a project is worth pursuing.
3) Take on risky projects one at a time—learning about the risks underlying each before moving to the next.
4) Build networks of business partners, suppliers, and customers who can collectively manage new ventures’ risks by playing distinct roles.

The book provides two tools for improving your risk IQ—the Risk Intelligence Audit and the Risk Scorecard—and concludes with a 10-step action plan for systematically raising your managerial and organizational risk IQ. Your reward? Smarter business decisions over time.

David Apgar is a managing director of the Corporate Executive Board, a best practices research organization serving senior executives at more than 2,500 leading institutions worldwide. He has incorporated the ideas of Risk Intelligence in a course on Risk Management and Development at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies. He lives in Washington, DC.