On Aon — Episode 98

How Leaders Stay Ahead: Balancing Risk and Strategic Choices

In this episode of On Aon, Aaron Olson, executive vice president for Aon's Enterprise Client Group and co-author of the book Strategy and Change: Finding Opportunity in Disruption Through Insight, Choice and Risk, is joined by co-authors Richard Waterer, Aon's global risk consulting leader, and Ward Ching, Aon’s managing director of global risk finance. Together, they explore what it takes for leaders to stay ahead in a world of volatility — sharing approaches to balance risk, embrace change and uncover new paths for growth and innovation.

Key takeaways: Aaron, Richard and Ward explore three key themes:

1. Insight – To succeed, organizations must strengthen pattern recognition and systems thinking to surface blind spots and assumptions before they turn into costly errors.
2. Choice – Business leaders need to focus on improving strategic choices and understand the impact of each decision to ensure every choice supports their goals.
3. Risk – Rather than avoiding risk, organizations can harness it as a catalyst for growth — aligning risk appetite, feedback from incidents and execution so organizations can move boldly and adapt quickly.

Experts in this episode:

• Aaron Olson — Executive Vice President, Enterprise Client Group, Aon
• Richard Waterer — Global Risk Consulting Leader, Commercial Risk, Aon
• Ward Ching — Managing Director, Global Risk Finance, Aon

Key moments:

(3:34) Aaron explains the concepts of insight, choice and risk — critical capabilities for navigating disruptive change that leaders and organizations will need to build.

(5:53) Ward highlights how we have moved from the information age to the digital age, where information is being curated in fundamentally new ways, which reshapes the way leaders need to think about strategic choice and disruption.

(10:20) Richard explains how risk has often been misunderstood as something to avoid when it can be seen as a driver of insight and opportunity.

Additional Resources:

Strategy and Change: Finding Opportunity in Disruption Through Insight, Choice and Risk

Findings from Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey

Soundbites

Richard Waterer:
“So the idea is simple by clearly defining how much risk an organization is willing to take. You don't just draw a line between danger and safety, you actually create a runway for innovation and growth.”

Aaron Olson:
“We have found...during times of disruptive change, insight becomes particularly important, both the use of analytics to understand and evaluate situations and the importance of addressing and considering blind spots.”