Risk management goes beyond mitigating threats—it’s about embracing uncertainty and transforming challenges into opportunities. In today’s complex and volatile business landscape, understanding how to navigate risks, build resilience, and foster a culture of preparedness is essential for long-term success. Discover key insights and strategies to help your organization thrive in the face of uncertainty with Dominic Bowen, head of Strategic Advisory and International Risk Management at 2Secure.
What inspired you to start working in risk management?
My journey into risk management was inspired by a desire to help people navigate volatility, conflict, and challenge with confidence. Early in my career, I saw firsthand in Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and in many other communities how poorly managed risks could derail even the most well-structured plans. I was drawn to the opportunity to bring structure to chaos, helping people anticipate challenges and also to transform risks into opportunities. The dynamic nature of risk management – working across industries, addressing geopolitical, operational, financial, reputational, and cyber risks – keeps me motivated and constantly learning.
It’s a complex world to run a business in today – what challenges are business leaders bringing to you?
Business leaders face an increasingly volatile landscape, with geopolitical tensions, information security, and regulatory pressures often at the forefront. Supply chain vulnerabilities have also emerged as a significant challenge, compounded by global disruptions and regional instabilities. Leaders are also grappling with balancing innovation with compliance, especially in industries undergoing rapid technological transformation. Many clients seek guidance on how to align risk management with their strategic goals, ensuring their organisations are both resilient and agile. And quite simply, most people don’t prioritise crisis preparedness until they are knee deep in the crisis – so I spend a lot of time advising and supporting executive teams navigate crisis.
How do the top business leaders approach risk management?
Top business leaders view risk management as an integral part of their decision-making process and something that complements their strategy, and also helps position their teams to take advantages of opportunities presented during volatility. The most successful business leaders I work with are prioritizing the creation of cultures of risk awareness across all levels of their organisations and rewarding leaders who lean into risk with maturity and who are using scenario planning to make informed decisions. All mature business leaders today invest in enterprise risk management (ERM) frameworks that provide a holistic view of their risk landscape, ensuring proactive measures rather than reactive responses, and practice crisis management ahead of the real crisis.
What are the most common mistakes companies make in their risk management efforts?
I regularly see four reoccurring mistakes. One of the most common mistakes is treating risk management as a siloed function rather than embedding it into the organisation’s DNA.
”many companies focus excessively on compliance functions, overlooking forward looking activities, considering emerging risks, and developing needed for agility.”
Secondly, many companies focus excessively on compliance functions, overlooking forward looking activities, considering emerging risks, and developing needed for agility.
Thirdly, some companies are still failing to utilise strategic advisors, geopolitical analysts, and risk experts – which lead to blind spots and less optimal decisions. Lastly, I often see companies failing to test their crisis management plans in realistic scenarios, leaving them vulnerable when actual crises occur.
What is the most underestimated risk in the business world today, and why do you think it’s overlooked?
Many business leaders underestimate the risk of not being properly prepared for crises, such as executive misconduct, regulatory investigations, or reputational damage. These issues are often overlooked because they are seen as improbable. And the risk is compounded because many business executives assume that because they are a senior manager, they can easily manage a crisis. Sadly, crisis – by their very definition – are not easily manage, and require practice, competence, and confidence from multiple stakeholders that need to operate harmoniously together during a high-stakes incident.
”The best way to prepare for crises is by conducting systematic risk audits, designing your crisis response plan, and running crisis simulations to ensure readiness.”
The best way to prepare for crises is by conducting systematic risk audits, designing your crisis response plan, and running crisis simulations to ensure readiness. If this seems like a lot to do on top of everything else you have as a leader – it probably is – so ask me for support today!
Learn more with Dominic’s Case File #126: Risk Busting, which is live on all podcast platforms,
The Crisis Files YouTube channel, and TheCrisisFiles.com.
LINKS
Here are the links to the Case File for three of those platforms:
Soundcloud: https://bit.ly/3Ds6rIp
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4gzYPSH
Apple: https://apple.co/3VH31rw
Reach out to Dominic when you need strategic advice for your business.
