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CHAPTER 6
monitored. Your whole way of dealing with outside threats is to use your brain to control data. In controlling data and making sure it’s correct and every- thing’s in a system, you are preventing harm. Does that make sense?
ANDREW: Yes, because I have a real fear of chaos and disorder.
MICHAEL: But where does that deep fear come from?
ANDREW: OK, so we live in Canada, a relatively peaceful and stable country, but not without its chaos. I cringe when I hear about the number of cars that are stolen every day. When I read that the Honda Civic is one of the top cars stolen, I keep it in my garage all the time.
Years ago, I had a neighbour, a Civic owner whose tires were stolen right from his car sitting in the driveway. Anything that I can do to minimize risk, I will do. Now, I know you can’t avoid all risks; when you drive your car or fly on a plane, there’s some risk. So I think: what can I reasonably do to avoid risk? For example, I put on my seatbelt because it’s a very small thing to do that greatly reduces the risk of being injured in an accident. I track my income and ex- penses very carefully and review them every year with a financial planner be- cause this reduces the risk of becoming poor. Does it guarantee it 100%? No, but it certainly lowers the probability of it.
MICHAEL: When you worked in different businesses, what was the way that you minimized risk?
SMART is an acronym for risk. It stands for:
See out the risk identify and understand Minimize the risk and the consequences of the risk Avoid the risk if you can
Retain the risk if it is sensible to do so
Transfer the risk if possible
ANDREW: By carefully developing many detailed written processes, procedures and checklists. I wrote hundreds of pages of this over the years. Having a check-
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