💡 ABOUT THIS EPISODE
I sat down with Charles Tapp, former Chief Financial Officer for the Veterans Benefits Administration, to talk about what it actually takes to build an enterprise risk management program from the ground up. Charles oversaw a $190 billion benefits portfolio during his time at the VA, and I built a similar risk program in my own corner of the agency, so this conversation is really two people comparing notes on work most people never get to see happen up close.
We get into how risk-informed budget decisions helped his team secure $302 million in PACT Act funding, why building a shared risk vocabulary has to come before anything else, and how COVID reshaped what leaders are willing to call a real risk. If you've ever tried to get people to take risk seriously without turning it into a fear tactic, this conversation is for you.
🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS
Enterprise risk management starts with a shared vocabulary Charles spent an entire year just getting people to agree on what words like risk appetite and risk tolerance actually mean.
Money follows the risk, not the other way around If you can't name the risk your funding request mitigates, Charles wouldn't support it.
HR isn't glamorous, but it can be your biggest risk A low-ranked risk item shot to the top once leadership saw how it would affect a major legislative rollout.
Black swans change what people are willing to plan for COVID made once-theoretical risks feel possible, and that shifted budget conversations for years.
Enterprise is relative to where you sit What counts as a top risk in a fifty-person office might not register at all at the agency level.
Stopping something is a mitigation strategy too Sometimes the fix isn't more people or more money, it's admitting a twenty-year-old process doesn't serve the mission anymore.
Risk-informed budgeting takes years, not quarters It took four years of methodical work before risk assessments were actually driving real dollars.
TOPICS
LEADERSHIP
INNOVATION
STRATEGIC THINKING
I📄
Read the Full Transcript
Prefer to read? The complete episode transcript is available here.
