I Should Have Assess The Risk Of Studying Risk Management

Just finished the Risk Management Workshop. Ok, so what did we learn from 3 long days? Risk Management is about Identify, Assess, Respond. Errr, uh-huh so why are students paying thousands to hear these 3 steps? I learned the same already in Prince2.

The professor was a disappointment. Well I wasn't expecting much in the first place since the nonsense of the individual assignment. But seriously he was reading off the workshop notes! Damn, I could read it myself thank you very much. I signed up for this elective to understand practical frameworks, tools and applications for risk management, not listen you go on and on about how "banks are useless, all you have to do is use 20 buzzwords" or "accountants have not a clue about risk" or "public sectors don't do risk management at all, it's all a lie". Dear professor, if I wanted to listen to a cynical old man complain about everything under the sun, I wouldn't pay for it, I expect to be paid for it!

I wasn't the only one suffering. A look around the class and you will find at the best of times about half are listening. On the dryer portions, everyone was just spaced out, eyes fixated on their laptop screen or simply snoozing. There wasn't anything to look at anyways, there were not workshop slides nor any engaging topic to hold our attention. It was either stare at this sad old man or read your emails or in the case of the persons beside me, surf the net. I did try my best to listen, I put my laptop away and tried to make the best of the sessions, while fighting off the sleepy bug.

So 3 painful days of listening to this old prick and not any better for it in terms of understanding how to manage risk. A lot of concepts and stories about how corporates didn't do it and how they end up in their bad state. But nothing really practical you can use to apply at the workplace. I suppose all these professors are just to market their consultancy services. They are not going to teach you how to do it, they just want to create 'awareness' that you have to do it, AND you should use their services ...

Risk management hinges on the awareness of it and whether your company's culture actually account for it. Imagine telling your bosses about risk and how we shouldn't do this or that or how we should spend extra monies to mitigate them ... the next thing you will find is the door out of the office. Most bosses are only interested in you helping them achieve their targets, its not about being professional and giving the best option, its about giving what other higher ups want to hear. So risk management is as useful as the management agenda. If they don't want to do something I'm sure they'll find a ton of risks and how dangerous it is. And if they are bend on doing something, all risk are shafted under the carpet. A tool of convenience. That's the route to success folks, management 101.