While everyone is allowed to make a mistake, there are always exceptions to a rule. This creates personal risk. A risk that was very nicely articulated by JFK in an interview in 1962:

“If you take the wrong course, and on occasion I have, the President bears the burden of the responsibility quite rightly. The advisers may move on to new advice.”

Consequently people put up barriers to poor advice. You probably won’t take advice on AI from your 94yr old mother, however, you would be wise to heed her tips on relationships. Irrespective, once you have gathered all the data you can and received all the advice you sought, you need to make a decision on the information at hand. You are the one accountable.

And this is when your blood pressure might go up and your heart beat a little quicker. You can’t be certain, as this world is so complex and becoming more complex. A lot more complex.

How do you make sure you have the best available information at hand for just this situation? I hope your answer is broadly something like this:

“Our organisation looks to develop flexible strategies that can be adapted to a changed set of circumstances. We do this through scenario analysis. We also have a strong risk culture where people share information about the risk they see using a common, well understood, language.”

For a little more inspiration to follow down this path, check out my blog from a month or so ago in which I explained my approach to monitoring emerging risk and my strategy funnel for developing flexible strategies.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.