A few months ago, I attended an illuminating session on “Risk Management as an Enabler of Change” hosted by Global Risk Institute at the University of Toronto’s Desautels Hall. Sonia Baxendale, President and CEO, Global Risk Institute in Financial Services held a conversation with Rahm Hirji, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, Manulife. I was quite eager to attend as it wasn’t often that one has a chance to listen, watch and learn from seasoned leaders.
As I walked into the room, I quickly scanned the audience and saw that there was a good mix of students and professionals at the early to middle stages of their careers.
I took my seat as Sonia introduced Rahim. As Rahim shared the story of his career and how he had become who he is today, I was struck by his openness and candour and the wit with which he livened his backstory.
Intrigued, I opened my Google Keep app in my phone and typed in notes as he shared tips on what he did, strategies anyone could adopt, to succeed in a professional career. These tips had obviously been distilled in the cauldron of his experiences, from trial and error no doubt, over the course of his lengthy career.
When he said, “Take chances, don’t be afraid to take on different roles – and don’t focus on messing up”, it resonated deeply with me as a first generation Canadian who had to put on different hats to integrate within the financial industry and eventually found my niche in risk management. I listened even more intently.
The second tip was to find ways to collaborate with colleagues to get things done. Sometimes, the magic question, “Can you help me with this?” unlocks doors of opportunity of which you may not be aware. Inherent in this approach is the need to network vigorously; internally and externally and be willing to reciprocate when people call upon your help. People always remember that person who was ready with a smile and found ways to get everyone in the team over the finish line.
The next tip, “Aim high even if you fall short” drew a quick laugh across the room. He explained that, even if you do not have all of the qualifications for an ideal candidate, there may certain aspects of your work experience that resonates with the hiring manager.
The last two tips, “Create a brand for yourself” and “Create a legacy”, he said are a culmination of the preceding tips. Simply put, the key question is “When you’re gone, what will people remember you by?”
Susan then steered the conversation to the topic of how risk management can enable change. Rahim said that not all risks should be mitigated, that some risks are better to manage to allow returns. Some risks offer opportunities to companies in terms of new products, or even new ways of doing things. Climate change and extreme weather events, for example, may give rise to specialized companies that provide better analytics, using artificial intelligence, for insurance underwriting.
It was refreshing to hear a CRO say that. Normally, risk managers are viewed as doomsday prophets by business leaders. We all know the usual question risk managers ask business leaders, “What keeps you up at night?”
Rahim went on to suggest that another way to leverage risk management as an agent of change is for companies to conduct pre-mortems for significant risk-taking activities. This will involve assessing and testing different scenarios under certain assumptions and ensuring that properly tested and validate crisis management plans and communications are in place in case a major event occurs.
External events and emerging risks are key inputs into the pre-mortem process as they help to sharpen the focus on the ways things can go wrong; enable management to keep abreast of environment; anticipate and manage disruptive technologies; adapt quickly, and fail fast.
Rahim then talked briefly about some of the new insurance products that Manulife was developing with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
I had a chat with Rahim after the event and got an even better insight into recent topical events in the news which reaffirmed my views about risk culture. The Board must lead by setting a strong and sustained tone from the top to enable and entrench a sustainable risk culture.
This risk culture ultimately determines how an organization not only responds to adverse events when they do occur but also leverages risk management to enable change and achieve business strategy; especially when you want to implement agile transformation.
Perhaps, it was fitting that the evening would be capped by an operational risk event – the lights went out, and although the automatic generators came on after about 30 seconds, the microphones and the floor-placed moderator’s timer remained inoperative. Someone shouted, “Operational risk event” and the whole room erupted in laughter.
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Ernest Onuorah is currently the Assistant Vice President, Operational Risk at Home Trust Company, one of the leading financial services institutions in Canada that provides mortgage lending and other financial solutions.
He has 24 years’ financial services experience with 14 years from TD Canada Trust, Royal Bank of Canada, and Bank of Montreal and 10 years from Nigeria with Access Bank, Pricewaterhousecoopers, and other companies.
He has been a speaker at Global Risk Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) Toronto chapter events and actively participates in other local and international risk management conferences.
A continuous learner, he has earned the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC); Financial Risk Manager (FRM); and Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designations in addition to an MBA.
He also delivers professional training courses and career coaching clinics. Please send your enquiries and comments to him at info@asteliacorp.com
