This is a long, but essential read, especially for those of us in positions involving direct risk management responsibility. While it may be argued that every leader or senior executive is accountable for risk management and faces similar repercussions, the irony of potential career risk impact cannot be greater than those who own and manage such functions day-to-day. I’m referring to Chief Risk Officers, Chief Security Officers, Chief Information Security Officers, and their likes. To cut to the chase, this paragraph from the article sums up the point about managing career risk:

“For a few years, one of Drew’s friends had been talking to her about retiring. For that friend, it was yet another matter of risk calculation: If she was going to retire soon enough anyway, her friend advised, do it while she was still on top, before time stopped being on her side. Wait long enough, and someone else might decide for her. Or something might go wrong, as things do.”