Books: Risk Intelligence
Monday, July 2nd, 2007earning from the Mistakes of the (Formerly) Rich and Infamous , June 26, 2007
| By | Elizabeth Farquhar “Knowledge@W. P. Carey” (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews |
At the end of her new book, Marianne Jennings marvels that people continue to be surprised by ethical collapses in corporations.
A professor of legal and ethical studies at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Jennings says that it’s possible to see these business train wrecks coming — no one should be surprised at the crash. The behaviors that lead to ethical collapse in companies are known to result in damage and pain. Companies that engage in them will slip, employees and investors will be hurt …. but everyone will still be surprised.
That’s why Jennings’ new book, “The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse: How to Spot Moral Meltdowns in Companies…Before It’s Too Late,” is such an important read right now. In spite of the ruin to lives and livelihoods brought about by the collapse of Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia — in spite of the regulatory reform that followed — companies and employees will continue to find ways to flirt with the edge.
Jennings’ book mines the history of the past decade recounts the inside stories of the corporate shenanigans that kept headline writers happy and Eliot Spitzer’s staff busy. It is fascinating to read about the insider conflicts of the HealthSouth board, the do-anything pressure at WorldCom to make stratospheric numbers, the distorting influence of Svengali CEOs on young minions. Jennings’ reports include the details, the emails and the anecdotes that allow readers to understand what happened and who was involved.
But these are not simply war stories. Jennings analyzes the events, beginning with the first who-will-notice compromise right through to the full blown hubris that infected the giants at their fall. Along the way she highlights the warning signals that were ignored.
But as Jennings’ points out, the path to ethical collapse is “a pattern of devolution.” Leaders and workers can become inured to the habits and justifications that point a company in the wrong direction. Jennings’ book offers practical advice on how to identify the pattern, and supplies prevention tools to halt it. So put on your glasses and set aside some weekend hours to hear what Jennings has to say about keeping your business on solid ground.
Jennings is well-qualified to advise on this topic. One of her long-term research projects yielded the 2000 book, “Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends.” She has conducted more than 300 workshops and seminars in the areas of business, personal, government, legal, academic and professional ethics. Her book, “A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit,” a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal as its business book of the year and was a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004.
Jennings would have us look at corporate culture on a macro level to refocus on high standards and consequently restore trust. Everyone will sleep better. And, in the end, those numbers should climb, too, because when ethical miscreants engage in slippery behavior to conceal disappointing performance, companies do not take the tough corrective steps needed to really turn things around. Isn’t that ironic?
Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Don’t Know (Hardcover)
by David Apgar (Author)
$20
Risk Intelligence gives executives and business managers a simple mental model and simple tools to manage these risks. According to the author’s model, risks fall into two categories: knowable and therefore learnable, and unknowable and therefore difficult to prepare for. The book not only shows readers how to analyse their knowable risks but helps them to appreciate the quality and utility of their own analysis. As it turns out, some people have a higher risk IQ than others and therefore analyse and manage risks more effectively. This book helps people of all risk aptitudes to assess and improve their risk IQs.
Written by David Apgar, a managing director of the Corporate Executive Board best-practices research organization which serves senior executives at over 2,500 institutions worldwide, Risk Intelligence: Learning To Manage What We Don’t Know openly challenges the common presumption that risk management and related business judgments is a matter solely for technical specialists. Risk Intelligence teaches the reader how to distinguish learnable risks from random risks in business decisions, how to score one’s own risk intelligence, how to conduct a solid risk strategy audit, how to build networks that can adapt dynamically to risk, and much more. Written in plain terms with clear examples, Risk Intelligence is enthusiastically recommended for business leaders seeking to sharpen their flexibility and adaptability when confronting unknown threats.
