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Michel Foucault: Patron Philosopher of Risk Management
Foucault’s ideas about power, knowledge, and the limits of systems make him a risk management role model.
bennym40
Jun 16 min read


When Power Shapes Decisions: Lessons from a French Hospital
Risk frameworks are often oblivious to power dynamics, instead focusing on the robustness of the decision-making methodology and its application. This can undermine the effectiveness of risk assessments, particularly with respect to change initiatives where the impact of power dynamics is often elevated.
bennym40
May 186 min read


Types of Power at Work: Weber’s Three Sources of Authority (and Why They Matter)
How to tailor risk team stategy to the culture of the organisation to increase the likelihood that valid challenge will be constructively engaged with.
bennym40
May 46 min read


Technical Debt: A New(ish) Risk Management Lens
IT teams talk a lot about Technical Debt, but it is a really powerful lens for risk teams to use when thinking more broadly about their organisation.
bennym40
Apr 216 min read


Knowledge, Ignorance & Uncertainty
Organisational Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, information or understanding.
Considering Organisational Ignorance in a structured way can revolutionise Risk Management Strategy.
bennym40
Mar 306 min read


Barriers to Speaking Up: Forever Chemicals at 3M
Case study of 3M, looking at how individual and group dynamics suppressed concerns around forever chemicals, and what lessons this may hold for risk strategy more generally.
bennym40
Mar 236 min read


Rats & Whistleblowers: Barriers to Speaking Up
Whistleblowing is an extreme form of dissent. How organisations seek to disrupt, ignore and discredit whistleblowers provides insight into how organisations seek to actively silence unwanted dissent and challenge more generally.
bennym40
Mar 166 min read


The Impact of Ideology on Decision Making
Ideology (our values, assumptions, and mental shortcuts) shapes what we notice, trust, and consider acceptable, especially when data is limited or uncertainty is high. While ideology can enable speed and coherence, unchallenged or dominant worldviews create blind spots, making it critical for organisations and risk teams to surface assumptions, encourage diverse perspectives, and question the stories they tell about themselves.
bennym40
Mar 96 min read


Risk Events, Controls & Organisational Brittleness
Risk event processes can incentivise organisations to add low‑value controls that protect individuals from blame but gradually erode judgement, empowerment, and adaptability. Over time, this control‑heavy response to failures makes organisations more brittle; better at managing yesterday’s risks, but less able to respond intelligently to future shocks.
bennym40
Mar 15 min read


Individual vs Organisational incentives
Risk frameworks often fail because they overlook how formal, informal, and personal incentives, stress, and loss‑framing predictably shape human behaviour, especially under pressure.
bennym40
Feb 216 min read


An Organisation’s Umwelt
Organisations operate within a 'perceptual bubble' shaped by their data, language, and assumptions. By challenging outdated frameworks, exploring alternative viewpoints, and understanding how categorisation shapes decisions, risk teams can help organisations navigate unseen risks and make better-informed choices.
bennym40
Feb 165 min read


The Overton Window, Social Capital & Risk Management
How Risk teams can use assessments of organisations' Overton Windows and Social Capital to build strategies to drive more effective challenge.
bennym40
Feb 96 min read


Social License & Risk Management
Risk teams require a "social license" to provide effective challenge. This can be measured and used to support risk management strategy.
bennym40
Jan 315 min read


The Inaugural Post
Integrating organisational psychology into the risk management toolset.
bennym40
Jan 255 min read
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