“Many people overlook inside risks— possibly because they are risks for which they themselves are responsible." -- Michael Bruch, British business writer. Sometimes failure is an inside job. As much as we worry about external dangers like the economy, global competition, technological change, financial crises, and a host of other outside factors in our assessments of business risk, we humans are just as likely to cause the problems that bring down our organizations. We don’t do it on purpose of course, but the worst aspects of human nature do sometimes overwhelm our better nature. Yet too often, those of us tasked with leadership simply can't see the internal risks due to our focus on the external. In a sense, you might say we can't see the weeds for the forest. A few years ago, … [Read more...]