Episode 54: Michele Wucker on Identifying and Confronting the Obvious Risks of Gray Rhinos

Michele Wucker is specialist in risk management and crisis anticipation and is author of the book "The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore". While we've all become familiar with Taleb's concept of Black Swans, we must equally become intimately aquatinted with Wucker's Gray Rhinos as they provide more obvious opportunities for actually anticipating and managing risk. During this interview, Michele takes us through the concept of Gray Rhinos with real-world historical examples, discussion of future Gray Rhinos, and strategies for engaging in real actions to identify, respond to, and mitigate future Gray Rhinos in business, society, and global affairs. The concept of a Gray Rhino is hugely important and has become embedded in how we evaluate risks at OODA with our customers. More about Michele Applying three decades of global experience in media, finance, and non-profit management and content creation, I help decision makers take a fresh look at and improve their strategies for confronting obvious but under-addressed business and policy challenges. My next book is YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World (Pegasus Books, April 2021). YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK is a sequel of sorts to THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore (St Martin's Press 2016), an international bestseller with translations published in Hungary, Korea, China, Taiwan, Norway, and forthcoming in Brazil. It has been highly influential in Chinese financial risk policy. I also am the author of LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right (Public Affairs, 2006) and WHY THE COCKS FIGHT: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola (FSG/Hill & Wang, 1999), a social and political history of the Dominican Republic’s turbulent relationship with Haiti and the United States. Specialties: risk management, crisis anticipation, global finance, global economic trends, global risk, debt crisis, global immigration trends, economic impact of immigration, citizenship regimes, China, Latin America, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Europe, emerging markets, leadership, women. More Information: Michele's Full Bio The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World Michele on Twitter