Written By: Phil Kabler
Recently my articles have taken a turn down a different avenue (for the most part). Instead of focusing directly on developments in business, real estate, insurance, or Bitcoin/block chain law, they have meandered about towards tangential issues. Yet they routinely land back on the topic of proactive risk management, which is one of my preferred research and teaching areas in my academic life. (For those who may be interested, my other core area of interest involves agency law. And, in both the cases of risk and agency, how both underlay and permeate the totality of law in-general.)
For those who have followed this series, they noted my musical tastes have ‘morphed’ towards contemporary composed (i.e., ‘classical’), electronic, ‘shoe gazing’ and even ‘drone’ creators. See Iceland [Iceland | Bogin, Munns & Munns], for example, although my explorations have gone farther to performers such as Hammock (an American group!), Ghostly Kisses (from Canada), and How To Disappear Completely (from Poland). I do not know why. I cannot explain my new-found attraction to this area; after all, I am at-heart a bass guitar player (big amplifiers and all), and have been since 1975, focusing largely on ‘progressive rock’ (think of “Yes” and “Kansas”, and similar groups) and ‘stadium rock’ (such as “Journey”, “Boston”, “Linkin Park”, and others). I also happen to enjoy the ‘Great American Song Book’ and show tunes. And ‘easy listening’ (go figure.)
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What I do recognize, regardless of the root cause, is that this ‘happy accident’ path into the overall ecospace of mindful music has motivated a more intentionally contemplative approach to…well, everything. (See Self-Care). Perhaps this is due to brain impact of music, the environmental outcomes of the ongoing pandemic and 2*2* in-general (somewhat superstitiously I simply cannot bring myself type the digits), perhaps to the personal perspective gained from aging, perhaps to my background in philosophy (I was a very dedicated student of my university major), or perhaps it is due to a combination of those and other exogenous factors. I may never know the basis, just the effect.
One thought which continues to bubble-up in all of this is ambience, which is actually an overarching category of minimalist music. This, in turn, leads me once again to my interest in proactive risk management and its applications in personal and business life. Proactive risk management specifically entails a continuous examination of the facts enveloping a person or a company which brought them to where they are and will continue to emerge and involve into their futures. For example, companies are always keeping a close eye on scientific and technological developments, market trends, competitor activities, labor rates, vendor availability, financial markets, insurance, and governmental regulation (including, but certainly not limited to, tax, environmental, and employment law). Or, they certainly always should be. They are always adding to their ‘learning curve’.
One historical constant is time moves. Which means individuals and businesses must be prepared for that which confronts them, whether it be repeat situations, variants of past events, major changes, or even ‘quantum shifts’ in their specific domains and how they exist (better thrive) within them. This is the net result of prepared flexibility.
And this circles-back to ambience. Ambient music is omnipresent, it is, simply put, always ‘there’ for the consumer. It surrounds the listener like air and water.
As-is proactive risk management engaged properly. The cycle of observing/absorbing/adopting/adapting inherent as proactive risk management is always ‘there’. It is ‘always on.’ It should be a natural ‘second-nature’ activity. And in its most efficient iteration it is applied using prescheduled checklists.
An analogy: You are reading this on some sort of electronic device, whether it be a computer, a ‘smart phone’, or a ‘pad’. Each of those machines – and they are machines, albeit complicated ones – work off of hardware, firmware, operating systems, and software. Unless one is a computer technician, the end-user does not devote specific attention to the upkeep of those elements – rather, they can self-update automatically and in the background. (During the writing of this very article, for example, my laptop ran an automated diagnostic sequence, identified a hardware element needing replacement, and directed me to order a service-ticket. I did nothing but pay attention to the signal and act on it as suggested.)
This is, simply put, how proactive risk management works. It should always be ‘on’ in the background, making us aware of potentially disruptive facts and circumstances. We build reminders to update our designed risk management system for pertinent intervals (suggestion – use a recurring calendar). And then we implement them. Do you change the oil in your car on a time or mileage schedule? If yes, then you already engage in proactive risk management.
The advantage to individuals and businesses, is ambient proactive risk management allows ‘us’ not to specifically focus on risk because we can rest comfortably on the maintenance system’s being is in-place and operational, permitting ‘us’ instead to spend our time and resources on what we prefer to do. For businesses that would be innovating and bringing those innovations to market.
And for me, that would be continuing my travels into artistic innovations. So, once again, on go my headphones. (Not too loud, warns my speech-language pathologist Wife, as a risk management measure.) Certainly more to follow.
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Notes: (1) This may be a first. Titling a piece with an adjective instead of a noun phrase as I have taught my law students. Always try something new when writing; sometimes it works, and others it does not – hopefully this time it does. (2) The materials in this piece are based upon this writer’s business school lectures.
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For more information, call Philip N. Kabler, Esq. of the Gainesville, FL office of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A. at (352) 332-7688, online at our Gainesville office, where he practices in the areas of business, real estate, banking, and equine law. He has taught business and real estate law courses at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business Administration and Levin College of Law. And he is the President of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association.
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NOTICE: The article above is not intended to serve as legal advice, and readers should not rely on it as such. It is offered only as general information. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding their legal matters, as every situation is unique.
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