Allianz Global Investors wanted to investigate the negative notion of risk with a novel approach: They gave the concept of an artist in residency a new twist by partnering with The School of Life (TSOL) and inviting its faculty member, the acclaimed British documentary filmmaker and author Polly Morland to critically examine the concept of risk.
The result is ”Risk Wise. Nine Everyday Adventures”, available in bookstores and online as of February 5, 2015. “It’s a book for our times because now, more than ever, we are forgetting the role that intelligent risk has to play behind every human advance,” says Alain de Botton, writer, philosopher and founder of The School of Life.
Living on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius
Morland met with people from different walks of life, including families who have been living happily on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius for generations, a Paris Opera ballet dancer and a New York City forensic engineer. All of them are risk wise in their own way.
“Dealing with risk – managing it and harnessing it according to clients’ needs – is at the heart of what we as investment managers do every day. Risk per se is neither good nor bad; rather it is an expression of probability – the likelihood of a particular outcome, positive or negative. But in reality, risk often gets a bad press and the very word 'risk' is often seen as synonymous with 'reckless', 'foolhardy' or even downright dangerous. However, this seems rather simplistic. Working with The School of Life helped us to ask what another perspective on risk might look like. This was the starting point for this exciting project. Seeing the result, we feel more than ever that risk should be treated as a natural part of life and not just a as warning," says Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors.
