Risktory: The Story Of Risk

Sometimes the best stories about risk are the ones that focus on the minutae of day to day life. In this week's episode, I look at Victorian-era Life Hacks and examine how risk - as it always does - played its role.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette could have avoided their fate had they made better decisions leading up, and during, the French Revolution. On this week's episode, I examine their missteps and outline what we can learn from them.

On February 7 2009, my home state, Victoria, was ravaged by the worst bushfires in Australian history. In this very personal episode, I examine the fires themselves and how Victorians strengthened their risk response in the days, weeks, months and years after.

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway scaled the world's tallest peak - Everest. I examine their climb in this week's episode. I also have a Q and A to share.

On this week's episode, I examine the life and work of Florence Nightingale - nurse, social reformer and statistician - and delve into why her example is one all risk management practitioners ought to take heed of.

The Dust Bowl was a major ecological disaster in the southern prairies of the US in the 1930s. This is a beautiful story of how risk hubris destroyed the land, and how human resilience was able to rebuild it.

In 2010, a cave in at a Chilean copper mine captured the world's imagination. On today's episode of Risktory, I look at the Copiapo Mining Accident, a truly triumphant tale about human resilience and ingenuity.

Thomas Edison obtained over 1000 patents during his extraordinary life. From an impoverished beginning, he became one of America's favorite sons: the archetypal risk taker innovator. In this episode, I examine the life of Edison and how we, as practitioners, can leverage his achievements in our own work.

911 is one of those events where you remember where you when it happened. On today's episode of Risktory, I examine how social resilience worked during and after 911 and why our collective ability to respond to threat is so powerful.

In this first listener request episode, I examine the 1241 Battle of Mohi, between the Mongols and Hungary. Led by the infamous General Subatai, the Battle of Mohi was one where risk management played a role in every maneuver.

On Christmas Day 1974, the people of Darwin of Australia were hit by Cyclone Tracy. In this week's episode, I look at this seminal moment in Australian history and what it means for risk management.

Harriet Tubman was a true master of complex and difficult risk. Born a slave in Maryland, she not only escaped slavery, she assisted 300 slaves to find their own freedom. Today's episode is an homage to an OG of risk.

In 1888, the East End of London was terrorized by a mysterious killer named Jack the Ripper. On this week's episode, we look at the murders and confront the reality that risk management is never infallible.

What happens when you have to fight a war, your men are gone, and women are the only viable workforce left? On this week's episode, we examine women workers in World War II and the contribution they made.

80,000 years ago, a small group of homo sapiens left Africa. Their actions would change the course of humankind forever. In this week's episode, I examine the Kings and Queens of disruption in The Great Migration.

If you lived in the Middle Ages, good risk management wasn't a whim or fancy. It was a necessity for survival. In this week's episode, I honor the mac grand-daddies of the art of risk management: the medievalists.

Why do some people love roller coasters, while others hide under the covers. In this week's episode, we look at risk tolerances and how the people of Pompeii in 79AD used tolerances to decide whether to stay or leave.

‘It was only on the evening of Lodi that I believed myself a superior man’ Napoleon BonaparteIn this inaugural episode of the Risktory Podcast, I look at the 1796 Battle of Lodi, featuring my favorite historical figure, Napoleon Bonaparte.What historians call a messy skirmish, I call a masterclass in targeted, pragmatic and – above all – effective risk management.