S3E1: Beyond the Box-Ticking—How Organizational Culture Drives Operational Risk
Welcome to Season 3 of The Risk Wheelhouse, where we’re turning up the heat on one of the most underappreciated yet mission-critical topics in risk management: Operational Risk. Why? Because in June, we’re releasing the highly anticipated 2025 IRM Navigator™ ORM Report, and it’s poised to reshape how the world thinks about organizational risk, resilience—and responsibility.
We kick off the season with a bang in Episode 1: Beyond the Box-Ticking—How Organizational Culture Drives Operational Risk. Hosts Ori Wellington and Sam Jones peel back the layers on one of today’s most dangerous blind spots: the cultural and behavioral failures quietly fueling massive operational breakdowns.
🔥 What We’re Talking About
Forget system outages and missing audit trails—this episode goes deeper. At the core of many recent corporate scandals isn’t a technical glitch—it’s a culture glitch. As Ori puts it: “It’s not about whether people speak up. It’s about where those concerns go—and whether anyone actually does something about them.”
Based on the Wheelhouse Advisors feature article from The RiskTech Journal—"Culture, Conduct, and Consequences"—this episode dives into how outdated ORM approaches that focus solely on controls and compliance are no longer enough. Regulators like APRA, ECB, and FCA now expect companies to prove their culture isn’t just a poster in the break room. It's a real, working control mechanism.
Key Themes Explored:
The Risk of Unheard Warnings: From signal suppression to weak escalation pathways, many risks go unaddressed not because no one saw them—but because no one acted.
When Culture Becomes a Control: Regulators are demanding hard evidence of ethical behavior, healthy escalation, and accountability—not just policies on paper.
Operational Intelligence: Welcome to real-time ORM. This is about leveraging data and predictive analytics to foresee risk—not just react to it.
Culture as Capital Risk: Miss the signs, ignore the culture, and regulators may hit back—hard. Just ask ANZ, which took a $1 billion capital hit for “cultural complacency.”
🎯 Why This Matters
Operational risk is no longer a back-office concern—it’s the frontline of enterprise trust. Culture and conduct are now strategic levers, not soft skills. And organizations that fail to recognize weak signals or ignore behavioral dynamics aren’t just exposed—they’re liable.
🚨 Coming Soon: 2025 IRM Navigator™ ORM Report
This episode also previews what’s to come in the June release of our flagship report:
Market trends through 2032
ORM vendor comparisons
Strategic recommendations for integrating ORM with ERM, GRC, and TRM
A shift from control validation to predictive intelligence
📢 Final Thought
As Ori and Sam challenge listeners: “What weak signals are flying under the radar in your organization?” This episode will leave risk leaders—and C-suite executives—rethinking everything they thought they knew about operational risk.
🎧 Listen now below and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or your favorite platform.
🔍 Want more? Visit The RiskTech Journal for exclusive insights.
📣 Join the conversation on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
