Innovations in Plumbing

The work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in building better plumbing for the developing world is getting lots of attention from major media. It’s a story we highlighted several months ago, because we believe that reinventing the toilet and rethinking risk management have a great deal in common. As we said before:

We’re fans of anyone who is willing to take on the world’s biggest problems and apply unconventional thinking and highly creative approaches to solving them. To say these folks are thinking outside the box (or should we say outside the bowl?) is a major understatement.  … passionate and creative risk managers can change organizations as well be innovative in addressing the many “cr*ppy” problems – everything from cybercrime and hackers to malicious insiders and costly compliance processes.

The point is, innovative thinking and effective risk management “plumbing” help sanitize organizations from a wide range of threats and keep information flowing through the organization hygienically and efficiently.