Every day, we make choices that involve different levels of risk. Our relationship with risk impacts our personal and professional lives. Find out how our view of risk creates a unique risk fingerprint. Join in this conversation with Natalie Benamou and podcast guest, Michele Wucker, Founder and CEO of Gray Rhino & Company. Michele is a best-selling author of The Gray

Rhino and You Are What You Risk. When leaders face decisions, their risk fingerprint influences how they decide the direction they will take.

In this episode, Natalie and Michele discuss:

• What is our risk fingerprint.
• How self-awareness puts us in the optimal condition for taking risks.
• What risk empathy is and why it is important for leaders.
• Why we need diverse risk fingerprints in the workplace.

Quotes from Michele:

“When it comes to risk, we are surprisingly likely to look away from things that are obvious, and we're not nearly as good at dealing with things close to us as we think.”

“Each person makes approximately 35,000 choices every day. Each choice, is a risk, whether we are thinking about it consciously or not.”

What is your risk fingerprint? Find out in this interview with Michele Wucker.

Global risk expert Michele Wucker helps businesses to manage enterprise risk to seize opportunities in today’s volatile, uncertain world of shifting geo-political, social, and economic realities. She coined the term “gray rhino” to focus attention on and counter leaders’ surprising vulnerability to obvious, probable, impactful risks: the subject of her 2016 global bestseller. She founded the Chicago based strategic advisory firm Gray Rhino & Company to help decision makers ask the tough questions that lead to better choices and effective responses to threats and opportunities instead of mere “box ticking.” Drawing on decades of experience in sovereign risk analysis in both emerging and developed markets and as a former think-tank CEO, Michele takes a dynamic systems approach to recognizing economic, social, and policy trends, their operational impacts, and their strategic risk implications. Her finance expertise ranges from global capital markets to migrant remittances and expanding financial access. She draws on a diverse, sophisticated global network to inform her forward-looking, actionable risk insights.

Michele’s four books include the influential THE GRAY RHINO (2016) and sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK (2021). Her popular 2019 TED Talk has attracted 2.5+ million views. Her byline has appeared in publications including International Financing Review (as Latin America bureau chief), The Economist, The Washington Post, and FT. She has been featured on CNBC, NPR, the BBC, and other leading media; in New Model Adviser, Bank Director, Risk & Insurance, and GARP magazines; in Crisis Response Journal; and on leadership, board governance, risk, insurance, and climate podcasts. Gray rhino references in People’s Daily and in speeches by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, have signaled Chinese risk policy shifts and moved markets around the world. The concept has made headlines in 75+ countries and 35+ languages, especially around the ignored warnings ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Resources:

Michele Wucker on LinkedIn

Gray Rhino & Company

Visit HerCsuite™

HerCsuite™ Radio is sponsored by our leadership development programs. Michele is a featured speaker for turnkey executive leadership programs.

Schedule a conversation to learn more.

HerCsuite™ Founder and Podcast Host Natalie Benamou, speaker, moderator and podcast host can be found on HerCsuite™ LinkedIn and HerPower2 LinkedIn.

Thank you to Michele for being a featured speaker for HerCsuite™ and a guest on the show. We thank Barbara Best for introducing us and we are especially thankful to you for listening to the show and for shining your light out into the world! We would be honored if you subscribed and shared this episode with a friend or colleague today.