Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Risk Efficiency
Known globally as The Risk Doctor, David has been working in risk management for about 30 years. He has worked in 48 countries on every continent except the Antarctic (too cold!), with clients in most industries.
Actually, it's not always "better to be safe than sorry." Value-driven risk management acknowledges that some risks are positive opportunities to be pursued, while others aren’t worth worrying too much about, given their unlikelihood of occurring.
Whenever we face a risk, one of the biggest challenges is deciding what to do about it, if anything. There is the popular saying, “It is better to be safe than to be sorry,” which holds great influence on a wide range of areas. In the context of public policy, it is better known as the precautionary principle.
The precautionary principle states that in any situation where there is a threat of severe or irreversible harm, and if there is no positive proof that harm would not result, then we should take protective action. Decisions are then made to protect the public or the environment from the severe harm that might occur. Examples include highly debated reactions to genetically modified food, mobile phones or nanotechnology. There are also many cases of unnecessary rules and regulations being introduced to protect people from a wide range of everyday hazards.
The problem with the precautionary principle is that it leads to an over-protective approach, wasting too much time and effort on things that might not ever be a problem. This arises from a focus on one of the two main dimensions of…
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