Commitment is what motivates us to do
something when everything and everyone else is screaming at us to do something
else.Examples of total commitment are as
old as the Bible (Abraham, the Prophets and Jesus) to the
relatively recent case of Johnson & Johnson during its Tylenol tampering
crisis.Without devaluing reflexive
heroism and supreme sacrifice during war or in the line of duty,
commitment means thinking about the full consequences before throwing ourselves
on that figurative grenade in order to save that in which we believe.Obviously, we need to pick and choose our values carefully, or life will
be messy, short or both.
Most
of us declare ourselves to be fully committed, but we usually
back off a little short of total commitment. That distance is the measure of our
commitment. Managing risk,
especially public risk, requires strong commitment from everyone in the
organization. It requires hard and fast adherence to a few old-fashioned
principles. When
dealing with uncertainties, one such principle is the insistence on truth –
even if it is “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.”
Another essential is fair process. So is the courage to stand on principle
to make the difficult decision, instead of the easier one. It also means
taking responsibility and willing to be accountable. It means admitting when we
were wrong. It
is much easier to talk or write about these principles than act on them. The
pressures at the time to do just the opposite are often intense. The motivation,
justification and opportunity to duck out from our stated commitment can also be
compelling.Even our closest advisors may be counseling us to compromise.This is where we have to know what we are willing to stand for. Paradoxically,
as we become increasingly dependent on technology, our responsibilities continue
to lie, as they always have, on moral foundations.Political and economic interests may swirl around us, but history judges
us, during our time of trial, on whether we acted in the public interest.Self-sacrifice may be necessary.The defence that “the numbers made me do it”, or that “it
was the will of the majority”maywork in some cases, but, more often with public risk, each
of us must seize ourselves of the full measure of our individual and official
responsibilities to the public.This is never easy.
It is instructive to examine the principles to which we pledge our
commitment and to ensure that our pledge is genuine.Then every crisis becomes an opportunity to run those principles up the
flagpole. Successful risk management is a profoundly moral exercise.Notably absent from most risk catastrophes is a concern for ethics. Our
commitment to higher principles in the face of risk defines us and, to a large
extent, the outcome.
Recommended Reading for Risk
Managers
Risky
Business: Canada’s Changing Science-Based Policy and Regulatory Regime,
edited by G. Bruce Doern and Ted Reed.Published this year by the University of Toronto Press, this fine
collection of essays sheds needed light on the often-turbulent confluence of
science and regulations. It explores critical macro-issues, such as the
increasing scientific deficit, which threatens to further weaken government
safety and health regulations, and essential micro-processes, such as policy
making, compliance and enforcement.Mad Cow Disease is well covered. Trends, including some genuinely
worrisome, identified in this thoughtful tome, will only become more prominent
in the next decade.
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Mike
Murphy has been a risk management consultant for the last five years. Prior
to that, he spent 17 years (78-96) with Transport Canada, his last five as Regional
Director General, Aviation
in Winnipeg. He has just returned from a trip to New York City, where
he gave a presentation to the International
Aviation Safety Association on the status of aircraft wiring concerns in
Canada, specifically that involving aromatic polyimide wiring, which has
proven in both military and civilian applications to suffer from arc
tracking under both dry and wet conditions, leading to potentially
catastrophic flashover events. Murphy, who first brought this concern
to the attention of Canadian aviation officials in February 1997, is
also the author of an article on aircraft circuit breakers, pointing out the
limitations of and precautions required with these circuit-protective
devices.
Managing
Your Public Risk, now in its second year, enjoys an overwhelming (over
99.8%) acceptance
rate. If you have any comments, suggestions or criticisms, please let
us know.
Murphy
thanks esteemed colleague Jeff Mahn of Sandia National Laboratories (Albuqueque,
New Mexico) for his peer
review and suggestions on this edition.
Salaam,
Shalom and Peace to all our gentle readers during this 2000th
Christmas Season.
Managing Your Public Risk