In this return episode of Risk Is Our Business, Captain Michael Rasmussen welcomes back Amir Ramezanpour to unpack the thinking behind his new book, Beyond Controls: Reshaping Risk Into Intelligent Advantage.

The conversation begins with a direct challenge to risk managers: too much of risk management is still focused on controls. Controls that validate compliance. Controls that document activity. Controls that comfort regulators. But in an AI-driven, high-velocity environment, are controls alone enough?

Amir explains why the title Beyond Controls is intentionally provocative and why some initially resist it while agreeing with the substance. The core argument is not about removing controls, but about elevating risk into something more powerful: risk intelligence. That means turning fragmented risk data into meaningful insight that helps leaders make better decisions amid uncertainty.

They explore how good risk intelligence supports business objectives, how it enables clarity rather than bureaucracy, and how organizations can move from static oversight to more adaptive, learning-oriented models. The discussion also touches on the role of AI, agentic AI, and digital twins, not as hype, but as tools that can help organizations anticipate rather than simply react.

Finally, Amir shares practical advice for leaders who want to begin building this vision today—start with mindset, anchor to objectives, and design systems that support decisions, not just documentation.

If traditional risk management built stronger guardrails, this episode asks how we build something smarter, an engine that helps the enterprise move forward with confidence.

In this episode of Risk Is Our Business, Captain Michael Rasmussen is joined by Chyono Flynn, Head of Enterprise Risk Management at Rolls-Royce, for a candid conversation about the realities of running risk management inside one of the world’s most complex engineering organizations.

They begin with what really keeps risk leaders awake at 2 a.m., which is not abstract frameworks, but execution risk, governance expectations, and whether the organization truly understands its most critical exposures. From there, the discussion moves into the UK Corporate Governance Code, with particular focus on Provision 29, and what it means in practice for boards, executives, and risk teams responsible for viability and long-term resilience.

Chyono and Michael draw clear distinctions between bad risk management (compliance-driven, disconnected, and report-heavy) and good risk management that engages the business, informs decisions, and earns trust at the executive and board level. They explore how to communicate the value of risk in a way that resonates, how to build and sustain a healthy risk culture, and why partnership matters more than policing.

They also discuss the role of technology as an enabler rather than a solution in itself, and how tools must support judgement, insight, and dialogue rather than replace them.

This episode offers a grounded look at what enterprise risk management looks like when governance expectations are high, stakes are real, and risk must help the organization stay on course, even when the pressure is on and sleep is in short supply.

In this episode of Risk Is Our Business, Captain Michael Rasmussen is joined by Fayadh Alenezi, strategic risk leadership architect and presilience advisor, for a candid discussion on where risk management stands today and where it needs to go next.

They begin by unpacking the current state of practice and what works, what doesn’t, and why too much risk management still feels like process without purpose. From there, the conversation moves into risk intelligence and the importance of good information, meaningful insight, and decision-relevant signals rather than noise.

Fayadh introduces the concept of presilience, shifting the focus from reacting to disruption toward building the foresight and decision capability to stay ahead of it. This naturally leads into a deeper discussion on risk leadership and what distinguishes strong risk leaders from framework managers, and why mindset, judgment, and clarity matter as much as models and data.

They also explore risk culture, with particular attention to the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, where cultural context, leadership norms, and rapid transformation shape how risk is perceived and practiced. The discussion connects these themes to Vision 2030, and how it is acting as a catalyst for more mature, strategic, and leadership-driven approaches to risk management across the Kingdom.

Rather than treating risk as a compliance obligation, this episode reframes it as a leadership discipline—one rooted in intelligence, culture, and the ability to act with confidence before the alarm sounds.