Insurance cannot keep you or your family members safe! While still important, insurance merely provides access to funds to help restore us (what we own) to where we were before a covered loss. Too often those of us working in “risk management” focus on helping our clients to protect their assets, but not on understanding and managing the “larger risks”. Consider for a moment the safety and security of your (or your client’s) family. NO insurance policy can keep a family safe and secure.
Ask yourself this basic question: do you think the world is a safer place in 2012 than in the past? I recently attended an annual “Security Briefing” hosted by Chubb, featuring the insights of Paul Viollis, co-founder of Risk Control Strategies (RCS). Trust me, if you had attended this event you would share my view: the world is definitely NOT a safer place this year than in the past.
RCS has become well-known as a national consulting firm specializing in threat management, risk assessments and security solutions of the affluent community and major corporations. They know what we do not know about the real risks in modern society, and their insights are disconcerting. Armed with a lot of hard data and anecdotal evidence compiled by his firm, Viollis is firm in his assertion that global events have created a perfect storm of risk that especially threaten the safety and security of financially successful families.
Those of you who have had the opportunity to hear Viollis speak know he is specific in his warnings, and provides compelling details why each of the risks summarized below are worth paying close attention to:
- attacks on the affluent continue from prolonged class struggle
- family offices targeted by organized crime groups
- workplace violence due to historic loss of jobs
- decentralization of terror cells will accelerate this risk
- increased demand for corporate governance accountability
- growing anti-American sentiment abroad
- irresponsible use of social media enables sex offenders and organized identity theft
- continued increase in home invasion and burglaries
Viollis concluded the briefing by reminding those in attendance that as risk advisors, we can best serve others by highlighting the risks and solutions that are too often overlooked by those families at the greatest risk. Of course, for each of the above risks there are practicable, if not fool-proof, solutions. Even if you or your clients are not overly alarmed by the trends referenced above, isn’t it “better to be safe than sorry”??
If you would like to speak with someone from RCS and learn more about the safety and security precautions available to manage these risks, I’d be happy to make an introduction. To read an interview featuring many of these insights, click the following link Huffington Post Dec 2011
Private Risk Advisor 