A veteran international risk management consultant will share his insights about how organizations can protect themselves from unexpected disruptions during a free Oct. 22 webinar for the MTSU and wider community.

Dr. David Hillson will present “Black Swan Hunting: Handling Emergent Risk” from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, Oct. 22, that promises viewers “an engaging discussion on emergent risk and to discover how to protect your organization and its projects from the unexpected.”

Dr. David Hillson

Click here to register and for more information about the event.

Hillson’s presentation is sponsored by the Middle Tennessee State University’s Distinguished Lecture Committee, the Jones College of Business’ Department of Information Systems and Analytics, and Martin Chair of Insurance.

Dr. David Wood

“MTSU brings expertise to help anyone interested in being prepared for the next widely disruptive event,” said Dr. Dave Wood, holder of the Martin Chair of Insurance and professor in the risk management and insurance program.

Hillson is known as “The Risk Doctor,” an international risk management consultant who leads The Risk Doctor Partnership and is a 25-year veteran who has worked in nearly 50 countries and published 11 major books and more than 100 journal papers and articles on risk.

A fellow of the Project Management Institute, Hillson has developed a wide range of innovations in the way risk is understood and managed, many of which have been adopted as standard practice, according to pmi.org.

His talks blend thought-leadership with practical application, presented in an accessible style that combines clarity with humor, guided by the Risk Doctor motto: “Understand profoundly so you can explain simply.”

About the event

The future is uncertain! This makes some people very nervous and worried, while others see it as a challenge to be overcome. Either way, we cannot simply sit back and wait for the future to arrive. Instead we need to engage proactively with the future, seeking to position and prepare ourselves to succeed.

The problem is that many future uncertainties are unknowable, leading to emergent risks that catch us unawares. These emergent risks are popularly known as “Black Swans,” and it is very hard for us to prepare for them in advance. Or is it?

In this keynote presentation, Hillson explains how to identify the conditions that lead to emergent risk, and how to develop robust responses for whatever might arise.

Resilience is the key, building flexibility and capacity into our organizations and projects, so that we can bounce back to success, even if a Black Swan emerges in our midst.

Emergent risk matters, and unknowable does not mean unmanageable. Discover how to predict when a Black Swan is coming your way, how to protect your organization and its projects from unexpected risk, and how to position yourself to survive and thrive.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)