Kerri Grosslight, Wells Fargo’s head of risk management and compliance for technology and operations group and corporate staff groups, is a people person. More specifically, she’s a people risk manager.
I recently chatted with Grosslight to find out more about the bank’s approach to risk management. What I discovered did not surprise me.
Several years ago, I wrote an article for HR Magazine examining the inclusion of human capital metrics in annual reports and shareholder letters. Wells Fargo’s (now retired) chairman and CEO Richard Kovacevich made this very human point in his 2004 letter to shareholders: “GAAP does not recognize the value of intangible assets that a knowledge-based company such as Wells Fargo generates internally — such as the loyalty and relationship levels of our team members and customers.” Kovacevich made the point, in part, to explain why he included human capital measures and information in his communications to shareholders.
It appears that Wells Fargo also believes that people play a vital role in risk management.
(People, of course, play a vital role in every organization’s risk management process; what differs is the extent to which companies recognize this importance and actively manage the human component of risk management.)
“Our mantra has been ‘Risk management is everyone’s responsibility,’ Grosslight notes, “and now we’re also emphasizing ‘Know your real risk’” – the risks that cross your desk every day. We’re working to help our team members understand that they are in the best position to understand and identify risks because they’re the ones doing the work.”
Here is our chat … more
