Inteview with Micheal C Jackson

Interview with Michael C. Jackson carried out by Magda Stepanyan, Founder & CEO at Risk Society

In today's increasingly complex world, Critical Systems Thinking (CST) provides a crucial framework for understanding and tackling multifaceted problems. The core of this approach is built on four fundamental commitments, designed to provide clarity and direction for navigating complexity.

Editorial

In 2025 I published a short article in the Strategic Risk Leadership Association (SRLA) Newsletter called ‘The Relevance of Critical Systems Thinking to Strategic Risk Leadership’.

‍Challenging the mantra of metrics within strategic risk

Denis Fischbacher-Smith, University of Glasgow

In recent times we have become prisoners of the idea that life is infinitely measurable, that all human wanting and torment and laughter, all hate and all love, can be reduced to that contemporary word metrics.

‍"For knowing afar off the evils that are brewing…" – the problem of strategic risk

Patrick Hoverstadt, Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO)

For knowing afar off the evils that are brewing, they are easily cured. But when they are allowed to grow until everyone can

recognise them, there is no longer any remedy to be found. (Niccolo Machiavelli, 1543).

Beyond the illusion of control: Why strategic risk demands a

systemic response

Dmytro Palamarchuk, ETH Zurich

Strategic surprises are no longer outliers; they are a feature of the operating

environment. For decades, practitioners have observed accelerating change,

interconnected systems, and risks that defy categorization.

‍Can risk managers ever know the risks they’re taking?

Paul Barnett, Founder Enlightened Enterprise Academy

There is a question that has stayed with me for many years, partly because it refuses to go away and partly because its consequences are everywhere we look.

Industry "case studies' where risk management fails to deliver

Dmytro Palamarchuk, ETH Zurich

Strategic Risk Leadership (SRL) and Critical Systems Thinking (CST) start from the same diagnosis: in complex socio-technical environments, risk is not “out there” as a stable probability—it is produced through interdependencies, sensemaking, and boundary choices.

‍A lack of systems thinking can Increase Risk in Transport

Safety

Cathy Hobbs, Independent Researcher

“The key take-away is that systems thinking has far more to do with the mindset you have when approaching a problem than the tools that can be used when solving it.”

When ‘critical control’ becomes a label, not a living assurance claim

Dan Norris, General Manager, Risk Assurance, Fonterra

The board pre-read pack lands. A polished visual sunburst diagram shows the

status of critical controls (CCs) for known catastrophic safety scenarios.

Critical Systems Thinking applied to address risk issues in the leisure industry

Matt Lloyd, Centre for Systems Studies

University of Hull

Risk management is a well-known term within organisational and management fields, however it not always clear how risk management can be implemented in practice.

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