Could George Bernard Shaw be talking about risk management when he said that.. " The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.”
'Risk' is an option when the tried & tested approach has reached a dead end & the choice is to postpone the inevitable or taking a plunge into a relative unknown.
The problem however is in defining 'Risk' .. anything from a leap in the dark to a blind choice between two binary alternatives is categorized as risk, which it is not.
So trusting one's judgement may not be a risk but a disaster if that person has little or no experience or no idea of the outcome of the planned action.
But the same decision could be termed as an acceptable risk where there is plainly a Hobson's choice which involves of taking what is available or nothing at all.
Assessing the situation ultimately is the leader's prerogative but it's managemens' role to factor the ever present uncertainty into any given situation, that's cucial.
Whether this involves having a Plan B or C or defining the acceptable cost of a given decision could be among the factors for setting up a risk-management plan.
THE SECOND OPINION helps you to assess the risks of any decison or strategy along with risk mitigation practices & envisages a damage control mechanism.
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