The honorable practice of risk management has been at the center of many events in history. Almost everyone can discuss the major catastrophes of our age—the hurricanes, tsunamis, explosions, wrecks, contaminations, product failures, governance failures and ethical lapses—with some degree of awareness and understanding of risk and risk management.

The implications of these events are relatively easy to perceive. It's the discussion of risk management as a discipline that isn't always as clear.

Within the risk management community, different disciplines may have different ideas about what good risk management looks like. Organizations sometimes struggle with different technical language, process, methodology and mindset from those employed in risk-related efforts. That makes it tough on business leaders and other stakeholders who are curious and supportive of the concept of good risk management, but who are not technical experts in any of the risk-related disciplines.