Global risk management

Managing and taking action means taking risks. If there were no risks, there would be no success or failure. There would be no action, and the objectives of organizations, whether public or private, would not be achieved!

Paradoxically, most organizations continue to be managed with a deterministic vision, so natural is the tendency to ignore events that could negatively impact our activities: "In calm weather, men find it difficult to foresee the storm" (Machiavelli).

Perhaps it is also because the future is inherently unsettling. But isn't it the primary quality of a leader to face these concerns head-on: "The measure of a man's intelligence is the amount of uncertainty he can bear" (Immanuel Kant).

The Covid-19 health crisis has, at least, had the merit of making companies realize that the future is uncertain. Climate change and geopolitical upheavals reinforce this uncertainty. It is no longer possible today to run a business without taking into account the random nature of the internal and external factors on which daily management and strategic decision-making processes are based.

This stochastic view of management leads us to imagine events that could disrupt the organization's planned course and negatively impact its economic or societal objectives.

This is all the more necessary as margins can no longer absorb major uncertainties. The right to make mistakes has disappeared.

We therefore strongly recommend that all managers establish a comprehensive risk map.