By Keith Goad
Associate Vice President, Office of Corporate Strategy
Nationwide
In the 21st century global economy, continuing education is critical for the professional that deals with risk in order to maintain an effective leadership position. In some fields, for example accounting, you are required to take ongoing education so as to keep a current CPA license. You could make the argument that accounting changes very little over time and is very episodic when it does. For a risk practitioner it is the opposite: the landscape is constantly changing for organizations.
Because of this ever-changing risk landscape and the evolving approaches to risk management Nationwide took great interest in supporting the formation of The Risk Institute at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
Daily, Nationwide helps our members manage and mitigate the diverse risks they face. When you look at risks businesses face, there is a tendency to focus solely on the traditional risk of their industry sector. Increasingly we are seeing that risk is evolving and that there are commonalities of risk among different business sectors. For example, all organizations face risks related to cyber security, reputation, catastrophic disruption, and some form of supply chain disruption.
Digital Disruption – January 2016
Among this myriad of risks facing organizations, The Risk Institute provides opportunities through executive education sessions and conferences for business professionals to think through risk and bounce ideas off one another. What makes The Risk Institute’s approach unique is that they focus on current and emerging risks from the perspective of different industries and backgrounds. The diversity of the types of businesses that are involved in this venture as well as their size allows for a richness of perspective through the exchange of ideas and information.
If, as an organization, you are stuck in a silo of where your company operates, you may totally miss new or emerging risks that another company may have already dealt with or on which there is already a perspective. They may not be a business or sector competitor, and may in fact be from a different industry, but their experience can help you gain an advantage by seeing how they would handle a similar situation and allow you to adopt proven best practices.
In terms of continuing education in the area of risk management, it may be difficult to find training courses for the practitioner or the leader of a company. The Risk Institute is filling this critical void.
Risk Modeling: The Past & The Future – March 2016
The differentiator is that The Risk Institute isn’t entirely focused on providing insight to the C-suite where the knowledge goes back to the company and might stay at that level. It is important that you have practitioners at different levels in a company who have the same opportunity to learn and understand along these dimensions, which truly embeds this approach and understanding within the culture of the organization. For the C-suite executive, events like the annual conference offer a comprehensive exchange of ideas. The Risk Executive Education Series is focused on those more on the front lines of managing the risk, and provides insight on emerging risks and proven strategies.
For any company that seeks to learn about and respond to our changing business landscape, the opportunity to take advantage of The Risk Institute is a gift.
The Risk Institute thanks Nationwide, a founding member, for their ongoing support. To find out more about programs and events at The Risk Institute (including executive education), or how your company can become involved, visit The Risk Institute website.