About Justin Smulison

Justin Smulison is the business content manager at RIMS and the host of RIMScast, the society's weekly podcast.
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Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. Offers Great Reset Survival Tips at RISKWORLD 2023

ATLANTA—RISKWORLD 2023 kicked off on Monday with a high-energy keynote delivered by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Taylor looked back on the last three years as a time characterized by major shifts in the way work and operations are performed, suggesting that it was an opportunity for the risk profession to lean in to change.

Taylor transported the audience back to March 13, 2020, when after nearly a month of rising public health fears, Proclamation 9994 was announced by the White House, declaring a national emergency concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

RISKWORLD 2023 kicked off on Monday with a high-energy keynote delivered by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Taylor looked back on the last three years as a time characterized by major shifts in the way work and operations are performed, suggesting that it was an opportunity for the risk profession to lean in to change.

“The way we work changed on that day,” Taylor said. He also noted the correlation of the change in the thesis for his book—from The Great Pause to The Great Reset—to reflect the reality of the time more accurately. He said the data compiled changed, and became more qualitative. “The data we collected told the story about employees saw the world.”

Based on data and interviews, along with anecdotes from his own experience leading SHRM, Taylor offered “survival tips” for the audience to use in an effort to navigate patterns in employment and productivity.

One tip was to flip the script on recent employment trends, such as how the “Great Resignation” of 2020 and 2021 has evolved into what he referred to as “The Great Regret” of 2023. He referenced the 9.9 million currently open jobs as a negative, but one that risk professionals can help correct through methods that may have seemed counterintuitive just five years ago, such as likening career and hiring patterns to a boomerang for the employee and employer. Taylor leans into this notion by contacting recently departed employees at 30-, 60- and 90-day intervals, to gauge if their new endeavors are gaining traction and whether their return would be suitable.

“The best companies are doing this more and more,” he said. “We know regret is real and employees who felt the grass is greener realize it might not always be the case. If someone was a great performer and left on the right terms, you should consider [reaching back to them].”

He also encouraged attendees to look within improve their hiring and employment practices. “You must not only hire for someone’s technical competencies and ability to do the job, but they must be culturally aligned,” he said. “News alert: They can’t be culturally aligned if you don’t have clarity around what your culture is. Do that, and you’ll solve for 90% of the problems in the Great Reset.”

Charting Risk Management’s Future at RISKWORLD 2023


ATLANTA — As RISKWORLD 2023 kicked off on Monday, RIMS 2023 President Jennifer Santiago took the main stage of the Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congrees Center to welcome attendees and help them prepare for three days of risk management education, insight and networking. “You will leave here ready—ready to lead, to take action, ready for the next step in your career, and ready to help make the world a more sustainable and resilient place,” Santiago said.  

Santiago introduced RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche, who made his RISKWORLD debut after having joined the Society in June 2022. LaBranche quickly established a presence as the new face of RIMS, having appeared at RIMS global, regional and chapter events regularly as well as those hosted by other organizations in the past year. He unveiled a video detailing RIMS’ new 10-year strategic plan and mission statement, which he said, “makes the case that risk management professionals play an indispensable role in making organizations more resilient, in driving strategy and decision-making and generating better outcomes.”

“For this plan to work, it’s going to require contributions from everyone in the risk management community,” LaBranche said. “From C-Suite executives and senior risk leaders to rising risk professionals and those in adjacent fields like HR and IT. Just as important, it will require the perspective and contributions from professionals from all walks of life and from different cultures.”

Santiago and LaBranche also had major news regarding the future of the RIMS-CRMP (Certified Risk Management Professional), announcing a strategic partnership with the Pan-Asia Risk and Insurance Management Association (PARIMA). The goal of the collaboration is to establish a global standard of knowledge and professionalism for risk professionals. Central to this endeavor, PARIMA will market, promote and deliver the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Workshop to Pan-Asia’s risk community while RIMS will deliver course materials, case studies, instructors, and manage administrative and certification duties.The expansion, they said, is “critical to the profession’s future.”

Santiago and LaBranche were joined onstage by Franck Baron, a co-founder and chairman of PARIMA and RIMS-CRMP Commission Chair Ward Ching to officially sign a memorandum of understanding and commemorate the historic collaboration.

“Setting a global baseline for risk management skills and knowledge is a critical first step to advancing the profession,” LaBranche said. “As a unified force, RIMS and PARIMA are ready to deliver greater opportunities for risk professionals in the Pan-Asia region to earn the RIMS-CRMP, strengthen risk programs, drive organizational resiliency and advance professionally.”

LaBranche closed the general session by beaming up a clip from the original “Star Trek” television series, in which Captain Kirk realizes that he and his crew were in the business of risk. He noted the similarities between the Starship Enterprise and RIMS.

“RIMS has been that vessel for exploration and discovery for the risk management community for 73 years,” he said. “For generations, RIMS has been a source of guidance, education, connections and opportunity. But times change, new challenges emerge, and new journeys call us forth. Soon after I started my voyage with RIMS, the Board of Directors and the management team engaged in a comprehensive analysis and assessment process to plan for the future of RIMS. The result is a new strategic plan that charts a course for where RIMS aims to go in the future. There’s no better place to share that vision than here at RISKWORLD.”

left to right: Gary LaBranche, Franck Baron, Ward Ching and Jennifer Santiago

RISKWORLD 2022: Q&A with Opening Keynote Michael C. Bush

RIMS RISKWORLD is just a few days away, kicking off in San Francisco on April 10. This year’s opening keynote will be delivered on Monday by Michael C. Bush, the CEO of Great Place to Work and author of A Great Place to Work for All: Better for Business, Better for People, Better for the World.

Bush recently sat down for an interview on the RIMScast podcast, discussing how the pandemic has redefined satisfaction in the workplace and the critical steps that risk professionals can take to increase equity and happiness in their organization. Download the RIMScast episode for Bush’s full interview and check out a preview of his April 11th keynote below:

What will you discuss in the keynote address at RISKWORLD?
Michael C. Bush: We’re going to talk about making a connection in a way that [makes] people, employees and clients feel they are cared for. Physical and mental health is a top priority now and risk professionals play a role because there is data and policy to consider. But, if you approach it correctly, it can lead to organizational success even during a pandemic or the Great Resignation.

How has the definition of happiness or satisfaction changed against the backdrop of the pandemic?
MB: Prior to the pandemic, we could talk about happiness, satisfaction, engagement and empowerment in one context. COVD has changed that. We were suddenly in a world where people felt like really nobody cared, because they were living a life where there was so much uncertainty. They didn’t know what they needed to do to protect themselves or their family members—physically and financially. This left huge voids because there was economic insecurity on top of it all. People had to watch their communities suffer as small businesses shut down one after another.

Great companies realized this was a time to care. Therefore, they became the one thing that their employees could rely on. In our interviews, we heard stories of companies sending employees necessities like toilet paper during shortages, making deliveries to their parents and other instances that were happening at a personal level. Those lucky employees realized their employers actually cared about them as people and not just as an employee, and that led to happiness. The only silver lining from the pandemic was that humanity has surfaced in a way that has connected us all.

How do you view resilience? 
MB: We all have tough days. When a person is under pressure but knows that they have support or someone or an organization that can relieve that pressure and enable them to bounce back, that’s resilience. It can eliminate burnout, but there’s a difference between burnout and being burnt out. And we’re going to discuss that difference at RISKWORLD.

Fans of language and communication—or those looking to sharpen their skills—will find some really strong takeaways from your take on active listening. Now that so many professionals depend on remote capabilities to work, how has your perception of active listening changed or evolved?
MB: I’ve become a more intense believer in active listening, especially over the last couple of years. It’s not just making eye contact and not just me repeating the last thing you said. Listening is really about caring. When you listen to a person in a deep way, it is the ultimate show of respect—and not doing it is equally disrespectful. If all I’m doing is waiting for someone’s mouth to stop moving to grab tidbits of what they said to make my point, that is not listening, that’s just a spring-loaded response.

When it comes to being remote, try to dial in and focus on the person who’s in front of you on the screen. Put down your mobile phone and stop multitasking—chatting, posting and “liking” things on social media. 

Listening, in the way I’m talking about, takes practice. It involves emptying your mind and being humble enough to do that and not holding on to your own point of view so tightly. When your mind is open, you start asking questions and learning starts. Through that exchange, something unusual and great happens: people feel safe and will start to say more. You might help someone solve their problem, they might help you, or you might identify a new risk altogether.

Human Trafficking and Supply Chains: Q&A with Tim Nelson of the Slave-Free Alliance

The International Labour Organization estimates that 25 million people are subject to human trafficking around the world, with children comprising one of every four victims. In many cases, the victims are used and transported by their traffickers in supply chains. 

Tim Nelson is the international development director for Hope For Justice, an anti-trafficking organization that aims to end modern slavery. He also holds the same title at the Slave-Free Alliance, an affiliated group that collaborates with businesses to assess and prevent the risk of human trafficking in their supply chains. Nelson recently appeared on RIMScast to discuss the how human trafficking has evolved into a major supply chain risk and how employers and employees can identify signs of this abuse.

Check out some highlights below, and to take a free deep-dive with Nelson and learn how to take action to prevent human trafficking in your company and community, download RIMScast episode 120.

For more information on steps businesses should take to help identify and combat modern slavery on their premises, you can also check out the Risk Management feature article “Human Trafficking: How Businesses Can Combat the Modern Slavery Epidemic.”

What inspired the creation of the Slave-Free Alliance?

Tim Nelson: We primarily started in the U.K., and formed because of the Modern Slavery Act, which requires companies with £36 million (about $50 million) or more in their annual revenue to state their efforts to remove slavery from their supply chain. Consequently, we tend to work with businesses above that £36 million level and we try and effectively help them honor their commitment.

We also work alongside federal or local police and alongside other NGOs and effectively try and be a trusted friend. Many people, because of the countries that they come from or what they’ve been told, are suspicious of police or are worried about corruption. We can be there to build that bridge of trust.

How can someone identify trafficking and modern slavery?

TN: Traffickers are those individuals who would use other people to generate profit for themselves and are looking for every opportunity. Global estimates indicate that there’s $150 billion made from this illegal activity. And therefore, the traffickers have thought it through. 

One of the complexities in identifying it is that human trafficking is hidden in plain sight. The common form that most people are aware of is sexual exploitation. But ultimately, traffickers [also] realized that they could traffic individuals to work in the supply chains of businesses, making components, working in manufacturing, working in agriculture.

Could you provide an example of how traffickers permeate supply chains?

TN: Last year there was a case where 400 victims were identified as being slaves within the primary supply chain of some of the major supermarkets within the U.K. And, like we said earlier, it was in plain sight—no one could see how this was happening.

This particular occurrence happened because the traffickers had gotten control of a recruitment company and they were able to bring individuals from a non-English-speaking nation to the U.K. Those individuals were given jobs, but the traffickers had control of their bank accounts. They were forcing these 30-plus individuals to live in a three-bedroom property. Many of them were washing themselves in a local river—not having running water was a sign that this is not how people should be living in 2020. 

National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month is held annually in January to educate about the different forms of human trafficking. What can risk professionals do to ensure the awareness continues all year?

TN: I would encourage all businesses to realize that they’ve got the power to change this so easily if they start to engage and put in different processes and systems. And part of what we’re trying to do is not to just encourage individuals or companies to stop buying goods from a particular company. If you just stop dealing with a company because you suspect there’s modern day slavery or trafficking happening, that company will close and another one will open like a phoenix. Companies can also sometimes be complicit just by not even looking or allowing enough due diligence to show that they are slave-free within the supply chain.

Is there a bottom-line impact as well?

TN: What we are seeing now is, internationally, inaction can be a major risk to your business. I can think of companies where issues around slavery were brought to the fore and share prices dropped by half as institutional investors pulled out. This is a key ESG issue, which makes it a C-suite-level risk in many cases.

What should companies expect when they engage with the Slave-Free Alliance?

TN: The first thing that we would do is conduct a gap analysis. This is not just looking at where you’re getting supply from—it’s to try and identify the weaknesses that may be in your supply chain. And that gap analysis forms something almost like a risk register.

Every company is different. I spoke to a Fortune 100 company last month that didn’t even have a procurement division. And that’s what I would have assumed every major multinational had. But every company has a different approach to it.

Quite often, a lot of people find that the even the thought of how big their supply chain creates a massive complexity because there might be just three people running the procurement department.

When we see something that would sit within the risks that we identify, then we work with the companies to diminish that risk. It could be an [unannounced] site assessment or working with those people who are going in and auditing the factories themselves.

For more information about how your business can combat and identify modern slavery, visit the Slave-Free Alliance and Hope For Justice. You can report suspected activity in the U.S. to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and internationally to the International Labour Organization.