Fundamentals of Enterprise Risk Management

CHAPTER 20COFFEE MUG, CANDY, EXOTIC JAMS, AND TOYOTA

RISK QUOTE: We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

—MAYA ANGELOU, POET

RISK QUOTE: Every really new idea looks crazy at first.

—ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD, ENGLISHPHILOSOPHER

In spite of the failures or near-failures of Enron, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Citibank, and others, we recognize the need for ERM. The problem is its difficulty in gaining traction in the corporate world, partly because of its complexity and partly because often it has not been implemented effectively. Companies talk about ERM and flirt with it, but their implementation of it often makes it seem like they are going through the motions rather than really coordinating risk management.

We acknowledge that ERM ...