PR4P: While building your business, what has been your biggest surprise to date?
AS: The frequency with which people have actually taken my professional advice. Consultants frequently moan about how a firm will pay for outside advice, then ignore it – but I’ve found that those I advise often listen and follow my recommendations.
PR4P: What is your vision for the next one-to-two years?
AS: Since 2015, when I became a full time faculty member at the University of Washington, the shape of ASA has changed. Because of time constraints and the energy that teaching both gives and takes, I do less consulting work, donating my services where I think I can make a difference – the Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Seattle Police Department are two examples. We have ramped up our publishing activity in the ASA Institute for Risk and Innovation, and our fourth volume of research notes will appear late this fall. I believe that I still have a couple more books to write over the next several years, one of which I’m working on this summer. I will continue to speak at conference on issues as broad as conduct risk, privacy, security, ethics and policy. As a faculty member, I’m also working on a major global cybersecurity policy initiative with the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies.
PR4P: As an entrepreneur, what has been your greatest obstacle or struggle?
AS: I don’t think in terms of obstacles or struggles. I like to call them challenges, and I’m familiar with most of them from having owned and operated a computer hardware company for 15 years: building and maintaining a reputation for integrity; right-sizing the company; ensuring that my company mirrors my own passions and expertise.
PR4P: As a risk management expert, in your estimation, what is the biggest risk confronting America?
AS: America’s largest risk right now comes from incoherence at the executive level, which unfortunately aligns with a fair amount of global uncertainty. If we drill down a bit, we see other large risks that are a result of our digital world, including cyber threats to businesses and government agencies and the sacrifice of our privacy rights to the lure of internet convenience. I would say generally that the anxiety level of 80% of Americans has gone up significantly because of national issues like immigration and health care.
Read More about Annie Searle – The Risk Detective
Interview with Annie Searle – Risk Update
Annie Searle is Principal of Annie Searle & Associates LLC – also known as ASA Risk Consultants – an independent consulting and research firm, serving businesses and organizations that are part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.