The term “thought leadership” usually makes me grimace.

That’s because the phrase often is used to gussy up content that is filled with more sales-and-marketing blah-blah-blah than thought. (Besides, what does it really mean to be “positioned as a thought leader?” Are there rankings? Is there a fantasy league that pits teams of thought leaders against each other? Does a Thought Leadership for Dummies book exist? Hmmm, note(s) to self…)

This white paper actually qualifies as thought leadership, which is refreshing since its author makes no claims about the competitiveness of his thoughts. Instead, Richard Pike of CCH delivers the goods on the current importance, and challenges surrounding, risk information.

Pike’s white paper makes an interesting point about the intense regulatory and stakeholder demands for more reliable risk information in the financial services industry right now: Other complex, competitive, and highly regulated industries have managed to satisfy similar demands (life sciences, energy, chemicals, and even aerospace).

The key adaptation financial services companies (as well as other companies with insufficient GRC capabilities) will have to make is in their management of highly fluid processes – the extent to which organizations can “lock down” these processes with effective controls, and then convey that to regulators and stakeholders. ###