Dr. David Hillson

Dr. David Hillson is The Risk Doctor, an international risk management consultant and director of Risk Doctor & Partners. A 25-year veteran who has worked in more than 40 countries and published eight major books and more than 100 journal papers and articles on risk, he is recognized globally as a leading thinker and expert practitioner in risk management.

Articles by Dr. David Hillson

• Quantitative risk analysis: Strengths and weaknesses

  Many people view quantitative risk analysis with a mixture of fear and awe. It’s clearly a very powerful…

  Thursday, December 03, 2020

• Understanding the risk mindset

  We all know that how we think determines what we do. This is particularly true when we are considering…

  Thursday, August 27, 2020

• All decisions are risky, so it’s time to stop talking about ‘risk-based decision-making’

  The idea of "risk-based decision-making" is becoming increasingly popular, and decision-makers at all…

  Friday, May 15, 2020

• 5 Cs for why we should include opportunity in risk management

  Many of the pieces are now in place to support widespread adoption of inclusive risk management that…

  Thursday, November 07, 2019

• Providing risk infrastructure to support opportunity management

  Failure to provide an appropriate level of risk infrastructure can cripple risk management in an organization.…

  Wednesday, August 07, 2019

• Modifying the IACCM Capability Maturity Model for risk

  The International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM) is the professional body for…

  Thursday, June 27, 2019

• Scoring schemes for prioritizing project risks

  Several leading project risk management standards and guidelines suggest that individual risks can be…

  Tuesday, May 07, 2019

• Professionalism in risk management

  Are you a "risk professional"? How do you know? Do you use the services of "risk professionals"? How…

  Thursday, March 14, 2019

• Overcoming the fear of failure

  The fear of failure often stops us taking risks, because most of us think of failure as "a bad thing."…

  Friday, December 07, 2018

• The life cycle of a project risk

  As we manage individual project risks, they pass through a life cycle that can be described using a set…

  Thursday, September 06, 2018

• 10 things businesses need to know in uncertain times

  Everyone knows that "business hates uncertainty." Uncertainty poses a clear threat to business, but it…

  Friday, June 08, 2018

• Risk management in developing countries

  ​Based on experience, it seems that the majority of companies in developing countries who are implementing…

  Wednesday, April 18, 2018

• The expanding risk management universe

  ​Like the physical universe, the risk management universe is expanding. This is true in two distinct…

  Thursday, April 05, 2018

• Managing contract claims risk

  Many organizations involved in or with the construction industry want to know how to minimize the risk…

  Friday, March 16, 2018

• Risk leaders need to dance the tango

  ​Risk practitioners seek inspiration from many different places, but not many look to the world of…

  Wednesday, January 17, 2018

• The evolution of risk

  The concept of risk has evolved a long way since its origin at the end of the Middle Ages, up to the…

  Thursday, December 07, 2017

• Managing risky stakeholders in 3 dimensions

  Stakeholders can pose a real risk to our businesses and projects — at least some of them can — and…

  Wednesday, October 18, 2017

• Headline risks: Seeing the big picture

  Risk assessments are often undertaken in detail, or several assessments are conducted in different parts…

  Wednesday, August 23, 2017

• Prioritize opportunities using red/yellow/green

  A client recently said they were not happy using the standard red/yellow/green color scheme in the Probability-Impact…

  Tuesday, July 11, 2017

• 7 elements in the anatomy of risk

  ​It is clearly important for us to understand the nature of a risk properly if we are to manage it…

  Wednesday, June 14, 2017

• Addressing risk with VUCA-Prime

  ​Many risk practitioners have heard of VUCA as a way of describing an environment which gives rise…

  Wednesday, May 10, 2017

• Communicating risk for attention and action

  Communication is difficult, especially when we are dealing with uncertainties that matter. People need…

  Thursday, January 26, 2017

• Risk escalation — a new strategy

  ​Risk-response strategies help us to focus our risk treatment efforts. With a small number of strategy…

  Tuesday, November 01, 2016

• Risk communication through storytelling

  Albert Einstein is reported as saying, "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."…

  Thursday, September 22, 2016

• Defining and using risk appetite

  ​There is a growing recognition that a proper understanding of risk appetite is a vital influence on…

  Monday, August 08, 2016

• Effective risk facilitation: Handling difficult people

  In addition to being able to flex their facilitation style to meet the varying challenges of the risk…

  Wednesday, June 29, 2016

• Effective risk facilitation: Matching style to technique

  There are many techniques for identifying risks, and a skilled facilitator can help to make these more…

  Thursday, May 19, 2016

• Effective risk facilitation: Understanding styles

  When a facilitator is leading a group in a facilitated workshop or meeting, he or she can adopt a range…

  Tuesday, April 19, 2016

• Effective risk facilitation: Understand the 4 P’s

  The role of the facilitator is to make things easier for a group of people working together on a common…

  Wednesday, March 02, 2016

• Risk landscapes and international development

  We all have our own "risk landscape," representing a set of opportunities from which we can benefit,…

  Tuesday, January 26, 2016

• How to counter the top 10 risk myths

  Myths help us to make sense of the uncertainty that surrounds us. In the world of business and projects,…

  Tuesday, November 24, 2015

• Modifying risk behavior with change management

  ​Have you found it hard to get commitment to risk management from your project team, sponsor or other…

  Tuesday, October 06, 2015

• Don’t treat your contracts like a suit of armor

  Many people view a contract like a suit of armor. It is there to protect you against uncertainty, and…

  Thursday, August 27, 2015

• Boards and risk: Have we got it right yet?

  Regulators have shown a growing interest in the way boards manage and report risk. So what has changed…

  Tuesday, July 28, 2015

• A Grand Unified Theory for managing risk?

  Albert Einstein tried for decades to develop a single "theory of everything," but he failed. Since then,…

  Tuesday, June 09, 2015

• 7 ways to influence risky project decisions

  ​Many project decisions are made by other people that affect you and your career, and often these decisions…

  Wednesday, May 06, 2015

• Scaling the PEAKS of competence

  How can you know if you are competent to perform in your role? Many professional organizations produce…

  Tuesday, March 31, 2015

• Managing cybercrime risk in your business

  ​Cybercrime is a rapidly growing threat to the global economy. However, it is not well-defined, and…

  Wednesday, February 11, 2015

• 7 questions to shape the risk process

  Anyone facing a risky and important decision or project will need to answer seven basic questions. In…

  Wednesday, January 07, 2015

• 3 success factors for schedule risk analysis

  ​For most projects, it is important to finish on schedule. For example, it might be necessary to supply…

  Wednesday, November 12, 2014

• Questions for the board about risk

  It is quite common for risk professionals not to talk to senior executives or board members. After all,…

  Wednesday, October 08, 2014

• Stress testing for risk management

  Stress testing originated in engineering to check that structures such as bridges, roads, tunnels and…

  Tuesday, July 08, 2014

• How can reputation risk be managed?

  ​How can reputation be integrated within an enterprise risk management framework? This is not possible,…

  Thursday, June 12, 2014

• Risks with 100 percent probability

  ​One of the first things I learned about risk was that every risk has both a probability less than…

  Wednesday, May 07, 2014

• Mindfulness in managing risk

  ​Mindfulness has its roots in Eastern religion. It is also used therapeutically to treat a variety…

  Friday, March 14, 2014

• How to manage risk in complex projects

  Some people say complex projects are not the same as other "ordinary" projects, and so they need to be…

  Tuesday, January 28, 2014

• Including sustainability in the risk framework

  Sustainability has become increasingly important to organizations across the world in recent years, as…

  Tuesday, January 07, 2014

• Using the ‘Six Value Medals’ to identify and assess risk

  Edward de Bono is famous for promoting creative thinking, and he has written many books to explain his…

  Monday, November 11, 2013

• Implicit and explicit risk management

  Have you ever been asked, "How risky is your project?" Most project managers find it hard to answer this…

  Monday, October 07, 2013