What do risk managers and explorers have in common?

It is not often that risk management is compared to the daring endeavours of an adventurer setting off into the wildest depths of our planet. But when Oli France, extreme expeditioner and founder of Wild Edge, gave a thought-provoking talk to fastTrack members, he shed light on a number of lessons we can all learn from life at the edge.

Through his experiences of extreme, often life-threatening, situations, he has learnt invaluable lessons about leadership, trust, judgement and decision making – all vital components of a successful career in risk management.

Here are five lessons from France that are just as applicable on a mountain edge as they are in the board room:

• “There are razor-thin margins between success and failure in our work. Sometimes that is the difference between life and death.”

• “We can’t control negative things happening, but we can control how we respond to them. Our response is a conscious choice.”

• “We all think bad decisions are the source of things going wrong but actually hesitation can be more brutal. You have to keep things moving forward.”

• “Absolute trust is essential for high performing teams.”

• “Human instinct is an advantage, and I worry that we’re losing it. It’s a powerful tool.”