You take risks in whatever you do. But if you understand, measure and account for them, that should keep you out of trouble. I protect the chairman, the board and the shareholders. I wanted to find a way to facilitate taking prudent risks, as opposed to just being a gatekeeper. A common misperception about risk management in some quarters is that the use of derivative securities constitutes speculation - that is, the addition of financial risk to the business risk of a firm's operations.
Some folks think that condom use increases risk.
The philosophy is, day to day, be relatively decentralized but have strong central guidelines on risk mandates. We've seen situations where a company purged itself of derivatives and the result was even greater risk than it had before. It's like location in the restaurant business. All I hear is risk management, risk management, risk management. From reading the press recently, you could be forgiven for thinking that risk management is a new issue.