To Mitigate Risk, Embrace It

​People are odd when it comes to risk. Marc Adee, chairman and CEO of insurance giant Crum & Forster, noted people living near water often opt not to purchase flood insurance for $300 but buy insurance on their smart phones. “They get to watch all their worldly possessions float down the river while filming it on their fully insured phones,” he said. Adee was the keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting Luncheon of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce in January, held at the Hanover Marriott. His topic was how businesses can mitigate risk. “It’s fun to talk about things like landing on Mars or automated vehicles,” he told the audience of more than 500. “I’m not going to talk about anything fun like that. I’m going to talk about things that can go wrong and how you can navigate that.”

​People have different levels of appetite for risk, according to Adee, yet he offered the following advice to all business owners and managers:

1. Identify the risk
2. Assess the likelihood of occurrence and the resultant impact on the business
3. Create a plan to mitigate that impact
4. Monitor

“You can share (the risk) with insurance or you cankeep your fingers crossed,” he said.
Adee discussed a number of issues impacting risk for New Jersey businesses. He noted New Jersey placed seventh on a recent list of the most litigious states in the nation, resulting in high levels of liability. The list identifies states with an unfair bias against defendants, often businesses, he said. He said the state’s new equal pay law increases the threshold of risk for businesses being sued by current or former employees. He called such laws job killers. Adee reported that twice as many people move out of New Jersey as move in, which impacts employee recruitment and retention. Reasons include affordability and taxes. “Making New Jersey in its entirety a place people want to move to is a challenge,” he said. The state’s approaching legalization of marijuana also will increase risk for businesses, Adee warned. “It’s unlikely productivity is going to go up for employees,” he said, drawing laughs. Adee cited problems experienced by Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, including issues such as employee testing, work accidents and driving accidents.

Cyber attacks are an increasing cause of risk for businesses, Adee said. “The guys who built the internet did not design it to be defended,” he said. “So defending your little part of it can be problematic.” Adee told the audience most cyber attacks are emailbased and 90 percent of related costs are due to human error. Therefore, educating employees about cautionary policies and procedures is essential, he said. For example, he recommended sending a fake phishing email and seeing which employees open it. “If you walk the halls and find everyone has sticky notes with their passwords, it’s probably an indication further education is needed,” he said. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and extended power outages, were the final issues Adee discussed. He suggested small businesses evaluate how long they can go without cash flow and all businesses consider the secondary effects of disasters when creating a disaster recovery plan. “What you’re looking for is resilience so you bounce back better than the next guy,” he said. In summary, Adee said, “Having a healthy respect for risk involves going through the process, assessing and planning…It (also) increases the long-term success of your business.” ​