Blog: Rethinking Risk

Finding Light in Darkness: Part one in exploring opportunities for growth in a world dominated by COVID-19

At the Risk Innovation Nexus, we help organizations and individuals identify ways to protect, grow, and create value from unexpected events. In a time of such uncertainty with the novel coronavirus, entrepreneurs, businesses, and others are facing risks and opportunities they have never seen at a higher rate than ever before. The ability to be agile and responsive in the face of this rapidly evolving risk landscape will be, in part, what makes the difference for businesses in being able to adapt to meet the new demands of a world dominated by COVID-19 and to continue to create and grow value next month, next quarter, next year. To capture and explore these opportunities and threats, this post marks the first in a series where we will look closely at orphan risks, the opportunity for value growth, and teams that are successfully applying a risk innovation mindset.

On a personal note, we want to bring you behind the scenes to look at the Risk Innovation Nexus team’s own risk landscape and share some of the tools and approaches we are using to navigate this time of uncertainty in our own operations. We are continuously thinking through:

1. What is most important to the groups we are accountable to and how might these areas of value be more or less urgent moving forward?
2. In this quickly-evolving landscape, what are some possible events that could threaten these areas of value next month, next quarter, next year?
3. How can we adapt with agility to protect and grow stakeholder value and to avoid our orphan risks? 

 By remembering the value we bring to our target audiences and community, the Risk Innovation Nexus is focusing on translating our in-person impact online. For us, remaining nimble in this time looks like Zoom conference calls, Mural workshops, and, now, this blog forum to reach you. Continuing to work with – and in service to – entrepreneurs serves as a testament to our commitment to successful, responsible, and ethical innovation in a rapidly changing world. 

Not all businesses and operations are affected equally in the time of the novel coronavirus, but forging ahead and finding continued success is likely a goal many of us share. And we want to help you find ways to navigate with agility, to not only survive this period but truly thrive as you identify new areas of value to deliver to your stakeholders and continue to grow. 

Some businesses continue to defy the odds and identify their orphan risks to create new areas of value (see our previous story on the boutique clothing company manufacturing masks that are 30% or more effective than standard cloth masks). Through this blog series, we will be covering stories like Suay Sew Shop’s in three major areas of life: Our Work, Our Home, and Our Education.

Innovators are no strangers to risk and we are confident in our entrepreneurial community to adapt and overcome. We invite you to explore with us throughout this series:

1. What is most important to the groups we are accountable to and how might these areas of value be more or less urgent moving forward?
2. In this quickly-evolving landscape, what are some possible events that could threaten these areas of value next month, next quarter, next year?
3. How can we adapt with agility to protect and grow stakeholder value and to avoid our orphan risks? 

For more information on the Risk Innovation Nexus approach, our resources, and our tools and services, and to keep up with our series exploring opportunities for growth, please sign up below to join our mailing list.
If there is a specific story you would like to highlight or topic area you would like covered on this blog, please email us at info@riskinnovation.org.