What’s a frame?
Frames define problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgements or suggest opportunities – all through the process of making certain information more noticeable, meaningful or memorable to the audience making the decision.
In terms of framing, strategy is all about opportunity and a potential loss if a given opportunity is not realized. We use optimistic frameworks such as blue ocean strategy and cash cows to signal their upside. By contrast, risk is marked by pessimistic language – risk identification, assessment and mitigation. As long as we keep the world of strategy separate from risk and don’t examine the same decision from different angles, we may bias the decision-making process right from the start.
When strategists, for instance, use the term Global Signals – the indicators that help you make sense of the events or trends shaping business – they often focus on the opportunities firms could be missing out on, making executives more willing to take risks. In risk management, the equivalent would be a Gray Rhino – a highly probable threat that is neglected despite its high impact, and that often occur after a series of warnings.
The Chief Strategy Officer, often an optimist, will look at the whole business in its context, assessing the industry dynamics, market, competitors and resources before making a decision. The Chief Risk Officer or the board risk committee is, by nature, more likely to be a pessimist who needs to prepare the organization for the worst possible scenario and ensure that the company survives. One trap organizations often fall into, however, is failing to consider the risk of inaction.