Let's get professional

We have heard a lot about the need for risk managers to have more clout, especially at board level. The message was reinforced recently by the Cass Business School research for Airmic, which showed how a disconnect between the risk function and the board lies behind most corporate disasters.

A large part of the problem – and therefore the solution – lies in the fact that risk management is not a recognised profession. To most board members, it is a vague term that could mean any number of different things: compliance; insurance purchase; internal audit; health and safety; you name it.

Professional qualifications, like the Institute of Risk Management’s qualifications are well known amongst risk managers, but carry little weight outside our fraternity.   

In my year as Airmic chairman, I hope to see us take the first steps towards professional recognition for risk management. It is very much a medium-term project, but there is a lot of support for the idea both within and outside the association. First, we need to agree a road map – the steps that will get us to the end of our journey. Then we need to devise and implement a strategy.  

I urge anyone who shares the aspiration to join us because it is in all our interests for risk management to gain the status it deserves. And with status comes influence.