6 THINKING ABOUT RISKS
A risk is anything that can have a negative impact on the course of action you’re proposing. For example, let’s say you were proposing a series of seminars. What would happen if, as in December 2017 in the UK, unexpectedly heavy snowfall brought the country to a standstill and your delegates couldn’t attend? Or, as in November 2017, a computer glitch grounded flights and your speakers couldn’t appear?
There are strategic risks, where a course of action may interfere with the business’s other objectives. That might be an opportunity cost – the money spent on your business case would not then be available to pay for X, Y or Z – or it might be that your case will have a knock-on effect in other parts of the business. For ...