I was happy to see Carnival Corporation receive a “GRC Achievement Award” from the Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG) last week.

I profiled Carnival’s GRC approach last year in Business Finance, and I still remember the passion with which the company’s GRC captain, chief audit executive Richard Brilliant, proclaimed, “GRC is everything.”

If you have not read the case study yet, it’s worth doing so for three reasons:

1) Carnival defines GRC clearly and practically;

2) Carnival demonstrates how GRC building blocks — including executive support for an internal audit function whose objectives include facilitating operational improvements — can be assembled; and

3) Carnival is committed to continuous GRC improvement. ###

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about succession planning risks.

Since then, I’ve had several other succession planning and talent management discussions with other smart cookies steeped in succession planning experience.

One interesting point I will delve into down the road is the notion that the majority of leadership development activities may be neglecting a crucial topic: values.

One interesting point I’ll get to right now involves more succession planning pitfalls, which I gleaned during an exchange with Yaarit Silverstone, a managing director in Accenture’s talent and organization performance practice. more

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

Last fall, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) published its Report of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission – Risk Governance: Balancing Risk and Reward. This spring, Protiviti published a helpful analysis of the NACD report.

Why does this concern you? Because the report identifies 10 principles boards may use to ratchet up their oversight of your company’s risk management activities. more

If succession planning is part of your job duties – and it should be – thank your lucky stars that you’re not in the utility sector.

Many utilities face what TowersWatson’s Ilene Gochman describes as a “triple whammy” succession planning challenge: rapidly graying leadership ranks; unique, industry-specific requirements for technical skills; and an imposing set of looming changes that will reshape the industry (carbon legislation, a nuclear power renaissance, surging demand for alternative energy, and more).

For this reason, the utility sector also serves as a rich source of succession planning approaches, practices, and thinking. more