Author: Jim McCormick

Who are Your Disrupters?

Jim McCormick photoBy Jim McCormick
Founder and President
Research Institute for Risk Intelligence

 

 

So, let’s say you’ve decided that you need to cause some disruption in your industry.  You have come to see the value of the mantra of The Risk Institute and want to “leverage risk to create value.”

Likely at the core of your decision is the need to strengthen your competitive advantage.  Perhaps you need to respond more quickly and effectively to changes in the competitive environment such as –

  • new competition from unexpected sources,
  • competitors with new products, offerings or distribution channels, or
  • competitors with cost structures you cannot currently match.

Or perhaps you need to be more responsive to changes in the marketplace like –

  • new payment methods,
  • generational preference changes, or
  • transient customers or clients with no loyalty.

It may be that you need to up your game on the innovation front and develop more new products, services and methods.

So, who do you put on the team that is going to drive the disruption?

  • All risk-takers so they will charge ahead?
  • Perhaps people who are all risk-adverse so they won’t do anything crazy?
  • Or a healthy mix to achieve some balance?

But how do you know even know the Risk Inclination of your people?

At the Research Institute for Risk Intelligence, we have spent a lot of time and effort studying personal risk inclination.  Because like The Risk Institute at Ohio State, we feel it is vital that organizations move away from conventional risk management and its emphasis on minimizing risk to the more current approach of utilizing risk.  And that process of utilizing risk to create or respond to disruption requires understanding the risk inclination of your people.

Because fueling innovation, inspiring initiative and attaining organizational agility are not just desirable – they are now mandatory if your organization is going to survive and prevail in today’s hyper-competitive, technology-accelerated, global world of business.

At The Risk Institute’s annual conference October 7 and 8 I will discuss these issues and provide insights that will help you answer these questions.  I will present insights based on our research into personal risk inclination that will help you better lead and persuade.