ISO 31000, Risk Management & Better Decision-Making with Grant Purdy

<p>In this episode of <strong>RiskMasters</strong>, I speak with Grant Purdy about risk management, uncertainty and the relationship between risk and better decision-making.</p><p>Grant has spent almost five decades working in risk and decision-making. He was a nominated expert involved in the development of <strong>ISO 31000</strong>, contributed to <strong>ISO Guide 73</strong> and helped shape <strong>ISO/IEC 31010</strong>.</p><p>He is also co-author, with the late Roger Estall, of <em>Deciding</em>, a practical guide designed to help people make better decisions.</p><p>Our conversation examines how risk management has evolved, why Grant believes parts of the profession have become disconnected from decision-making, and what boards, executives and risk professionals can do differently.</p><p>“Certainty is a total illusion. It can never be achieved. Sufficient certainty is as good as we can get.” – Grant Purdy</p><p><strong>🎯 What You Will Learn</strong></p><ul><li><p>Why risk management should ultimately improve decision-making</p></li><li><p>How to make decisions without waiting for impossible certainty</p></li><li><p>Why identifying and monitoring assumptions strengthens governance</p></li><li><p>Where risk matrices and risk appetite can create false confidence</p></li><li><p>How AI can support judgement without replacing accountability</p></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>🕒 Episode Highlights</strong></p><p><strong>01:23 - What ISO 31000 was originally trying to achieve</strong></p><p>Grant traces the development of ISO 31000 from AS/NZS 4360 and explains why creating useful information for decision-making was central to the original approach.</p><p><strong>06:03 - Where risk management lost its way</strong></p><p>We discuss the different philosophies that emerged around risk management and why Grant believes the profession needs to reconnect risk with decision support.</p><p><strong>10:29 - Uncertainty, assumptions and sufficient certainty</strong></p><p>Grant explains why decisions require clarity about purpose, opportunity, desired outcomes and the assumptions on which they depend.</p><p><strong>16:08 - The danger of seeking certainty</strong></p><p>Why waiting for complete information can produce analysis paralysis, missed opportunities and delayed action.</p><p><strong>21:10 - What risk matrices can and cannot tell us</strong></p><p>Grant explains why a useful prioritisation tool can become misleading when organisations treat it as a form of qu