Is “strategic risk management” just a new semantic spin in the profession’s ongoing evolution? Or does SRM represent a genuine leap beyond standard enterprise risk management?

At first blush I was skeptical, wondering whether risk managers were merely seeking a more highfalutin title to raise their stature and demand more compensation.

But after further consideration, I see the potential for legitimate professional growth if SRM puts risk managers in the room with senior management and the board of directors when a company’s course is determined, rather than being relegated to a supporting role and having to account for exposures after strategic decisions have already been made.

When I first started covering the profession in 1981, risk managers were mostly low-profile middle-managers who depended heavily on their insurance brokers to make basic risk-transfer decisions.

But by the late 1980s, risk managers not only had established themselves as the clear decision-makers when buying coverage, but many were also quite capable of taking their business outside of the traditional insurance markets to form their own captive companies.

It took another 15 or 20 years for the profession’s latest incarnation to emerge in terms of enterprise risk management—a point on the evolutionary scale that many have yet to reach.

Over the last two decades, a growing number of risk managers have graduated beyond standard operational exposures to handle enterprise-wide threats to their companies’ bottom lines. This new breed deals with supply-chain disruptions, currency fluctuations, political exposures, capital and liquidity problems, regulatory compliance demands, merger and acquisition due diligence, and reputational risks.

Eager for entry into the vaunted “C-Suite,” a growing number of risk managers have capitalized on their increased ERM responsibilities by recasting themselves as Chief Risk Officers. Those anointed with the CRO title do indeed tend to have greater standing within their organizations, with some enjoying direct access to their board of directors.

CROs are further up in the corporate hierarchy and many do have a seat at the table when big plans are made, but they are relatively few in number. The bulk of risk managers are still pretty much internal service providers.

So even though risk managers have already come a long way professionally, the majority of practitioners have a long way to go to become top-level policymakers.

SRM could represent a quantum leap forward for enterprise risk managers. Indeed, it’s the logical next step in their natural evolution—but only if they actually walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

The biggest complaint I’ve heard from risk managers over the years is that they get called upon to clean up the mess left by others who make strategic decisions without considering the worst-case scenarios. That could change if strategic risk managers have a seat at the table when new products are on the drawing board, new markets are explored, new facilities are opened, and new investments are considered.

The challenge facing SRMs will be to raise red flags when necessary without unreasonably restricting growth opportunities. They also must effectively quantify the value of the work they do: How can companies measure the impact of risks not taken, or of losses that did not occur due to SRM?

Insurances companies, brokerages, and consulting firms can facilitate the professional growth of risk managers while bolstering their own cause by providing new templates to distinguish SRM from its older and still maturing ERM sibling, and by encouraging firms to integrate the new discipline into their operations and culture.

There’s really no downside to adoption of SRM for the practitioner or for those who serve their needs. The more influence a risk manager has in strategic planning, the more capable they will be in spotting and heading off potential hazards and in limiting losses, which is the pot of gold at the end of the risk management rainbow.

Sam J. Friedman joined Deloitte Research as Insurance Leader last October after 29 years at National Underwriter, where he served as Group Editor In Chief of the P&C Media Division. He may be reached at samfriedman@deloitte.com.

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