David R. Koenig has served on both for-profit and non-profit boards and as a chief executive officer. He created corporate risk management programs at three different companies and has managed complex financial portfolios in excess of tens of billions of dollars in size. He serves on the advisory board of the Center for Advancing Corporate Performance and the editorial board of the Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions. David has also founded two global professional associations and is the award-winning author of two books: Governance Reimagined: Organizational Design, Risk, and Value Creation and the recently released The Board Member’s Guide to Risk.

https://lifeasleadership.com/017/ (LaL 017: Behind-the-Scenes Leadership with Cynthia Plouché)

https://lifeasleadership.com/063/ (LaL 063: The Trust Equation with John O'Grady)

https://lifeasleadership.com/092/ (LaL 092: The Four Factors of Trustworthiness with Charles Green)

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

- Risk-taking capacity is driven by what level of trust people have in us.

- A leadership risk assessment/planning exercise:

• Step 1: Write down three things you believe will be true about your life 1, 5, and 10 years from today.

• Step 2: Statement of values. Write down your values in three sentences or less.

• Step 3: Define what success looks like in 10 years.

- Governance is the framework that allows you to achieve that success. The two constraints on that framework are 1. Values and 2. Capital.

- In summary: What are you capable of doing, what would you like to do, and what are the values that tell you what is okay to do in pursuit of all of that.

- Trust impacts the cost of every transaction that an organization engages in.

- Big risks make people afraid. Rampant incrementalism is taking lots of small risks throughout an organization and expand or invest in those that prove their value.

- The maximum group size of absolute trust is 150 people, so it is important to distribute authority.

QUESTIONS TO INSPIRE US TO ACTION

- What is some lesson, saying, or experience that continues to influence your leadership to this day? Whatever challenge you face, take care of yourself but keep looking to serve. You might be surprised by your legacy.

- Use three descriptors to finish this sentence: “A leader is…” A visionary who inspires, someone focused on the needs of others who follow that inspiration, and someone who appreciates that contributions of others.

- What is a question that leaders should be asking either themselves or others? What am I doing something today to learn something new?

- What book would you recommend to leaders? The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker

- If you could get every listener to start doing something THIS week to help them be a better leader, what would it be? Shift your focus from thinking of leaders as individuals.

- As a general life principle, is it better to ask “why?” or “why not?” “Why?” because it’s too easy to become complacent about how we do things and “why not?” because we’re always searching for new and better ways to do things.

Website:

https://www.davidrkoenig.com

https://www.dcro.org

Contact:

Find David on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidrkoenig (@davidrkoenig)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBoardMembersGuidetoRisk/ (@theboardmembersguidetorisk)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrkoenig/ (in/davidrkoenig)