“Key-person risk” is a concept that attracted my attention for its relationship to the larger issue I see with organizations investing so much power in one person. Two items:
“Key Man Risk: The (corporate) danger of over-reliance on one or a few individuals,” Schott’s Vocab, New York Times, 14 April 2009 (posted September 2018)
“Key-man risk” or more appropriately “key-person risk” or “key-person dependency risk” is a suite of synonyms relating to a concept I’ve been thinking on for a while. Is concentration of power in one individual inherently risky?
“Key-person risk is alive and kicking in global business: Carlos Ghosn’s downfall points to a wider problem,” The Economist, 24 November 2018 (posted November 2018)
Interesting discussion of “3 flavours” of #keypersonrisk, with mention of the “wider problem” this represents. Personally, still wondering if the basic problem is the age-old tradition(?) of a single leader running the show.
And that that problem is not just in business but also in governance (the fate of too many people depends too much on one human’s abilities or foibles).
The 3 kinds of key person risk they discuss are:
* “a flawed individual has near-absolute power”
* “a firm is judged to be so complex that only one maestro can keep all the plates spinning”
* “a boss is excellent at their job.”
Other blogs > LinkedIn > LinkedIn articles & posts, 2018 (Jul–Dec)