Catalin Marinescu

A hands-on approach to risk management

When you are managing strategic planning with any organisation you need to be abreast of the latest developments and thinking in risk management. You also need to be open to questioning your own approach and interchanging perspectives and ideas with other people.

I recently took up a new position as Head of Corporate Strategy Division with the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva. Coming into my new role, I felt, dovetailed with a unique opportunity to refresh my own expertise and understanding of risk management while exploring new ideas and approaches. I was drawn to the Leading Risk in Organisations programme at LSE, partly because of the international reputation the school enjoys for leading edge thinking and rigorous academic excellence. And partly because I relished the chance to interact with high-level peers from a diversity of backgrounds.

Specifically I was looking for helpful insight and frameworks to help me build a world-class risk model for my own organisation. To this end, I found the example-based teaching approach used by LSE faculty to be exceptionally effective. In class we explored real-world case studies, which the professors then adapted to needs and specific challenges of our own organisations. I also really appreciated the hands-on dimensions of the learning experience, which included role-modelling exercises focused on building a programme of risk mitigation measures for a company. Besides being instructive, this was also fun and really helped embed the learning.

My cohort was hugely diverse and a really balanced mix of people, with colleagues from SMEs as well as some of the biggest corporations on the planet. We enjoyed open dialogue and rich discussions that were expertly facilitated by faculty. In general, the LSE experience makes learning accessible and easy and you have the added bonus of being in London with everything a global hub has to offer. I would recommend the programme to anyone looking to take their risk-management toolkit to a whole new level.