Taming the Leviathan - A New Approach to Risk for the Military Leader

Abstract

Military operations involve risk. A central question for military leaders is whether they have the tools available to them to deal with risk. Part of the leader’s risk toolbox is the training and education they receive. However the military leader is not exposed to formal training and education modules that specifically address risk. With a lack of formal risk doctrine and training in the CF, the leader may use narrowly defined and inconsistent engineering risk processes or high level generic frameworks that are not easy to standardize, track, understand, or apply. The result may be shallow analysis, poor management, unclear communication and poor decisions involving risk. To address these issues, this paper will first examine some weaknesses of selected risk management processes. A wider understanding of risk will then be developed by other perspectives using philosophical, psychological and sociological theories as a basis for discussion. Finally the paper develops its comprehensive risk approach by layering these wider though processes on top of the common risk management methodologies.