Tom Fox welcomes Andrea Bonime-Blanc to this week’s show. Andrea is the author of Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk into Resilience and Value, and a foremost name in compliance. She recently joined the Board of Advisors of Crisp. Andrea and Tom talk about her new role, and the increasing importance of ESG.

Risk Intelligence as a Service
Andrea explains that Crisp provides risk intelligence as a service: their “series of algorithms search the open Internet and the dark web and a variety of other sources for potential risks affecting their clients,” she says. “It’s basically a way of giving an early warning system to the client on risks that may affect the brand.” She adds that having a transversal approach towards emerging risk is vital.
Compliance Should Be On Every Board
Tom comments that Andrea has written extensively about the need to have compliance professionals in the boardroom. She responds that it’s even more critical today: “Risks are an everyday occurrence, and we have a convergence of big strategic risks this year like we’ve never seen before…” A compliance professional brings a unique perspective regarding risk, regulatory and compliance issues that helps to create a holistic long term strategy for an organization, especially in today’s complex, interconnected world. 
The Importance of Inclusion
Andrea and Tom discuss why inclusion may be even more important than diversity. “I think people are starting to realize there’s some root causes here that need to change,” Andrea remarks. “And they’re realizing that these are things that need to happen within their organizations in order to not just make their organizations reflect society more than they have, but to actually create competitive advantage. And that’s really the bright side of this whole thing is, you’re not just doing it to be a good citizen, you’re doing it because it’s good business as well.”
Moving Towards Coordinated ESG
Environmental, social, governance and technology issues are non-financial but can have a major financial and reputational impact on any organization, Andrea comments. As such, they need to be handled strategically to bring the most benefit to the company. The good news is that if you manage these issues well, you create better products and services. “Value is always the other side of the coin of risk,” Andrea comments.
Resourcs
GEC Risk Advisory
CrispThinking.com
Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk into Resilience and Value