The validity and utility of SMART (Systems Methodology Applied to Risk Termination) is often immediately obvious to those who are seeking a global, all-encompassing, holistic approach to managing the full spectrum of risk they face – legal, political, technological, economic, environmental, physical, cultural, and social. As a straightforward 10-step process, appears to be “ready to go.”

But that simplicity, while beguiling, can also be quite deceiving. For example, the process of flying an aircraft can likely be described as consisting of ten simple steps: file a flight plan, fuel the aircraft, check the weather, start the engine, clear with traffic control, taxi for takeoff, get airborne, reach selected altitude, fly intended route, and land at destination airfield. Yet it takes years of training and practice to consistently accomplish those ten simple steps.

Elements of SMART are defined and described in the best-selling Prentice Hall book, MANAGING RISK: Systematic Loss Prevention for Executives. What cannot be contained in or obtained from any book, however, is the experiential reality of attaining mastery of a step-by-step technique. Hidden from the reader is the underlying rationale, myriads of lessons learned during its development, and the purposefulness that enables a truly systematic execution of every step.

Beyond the shortsightedness of assumed simplicity, there are some even greater dangers in attempting to implement SMART “from a cold start.” First, should there be error in applying the first step, it can easily ruin the opportunity to continue implementation of the remaining steps in SMART. In other words, since SMART is built of sequential steps that depend on previous ones, an early misstep will make it impossible to attain the desired objective. A second danger of premature initiation is the possibility of “picking and choosing” from among SMART elements – perhaps because they are attractive, appear easier to do, or seem more readily understood -- rather than following the ordered regimen that makes SMART truly effective. That would be analogous to try starting to build a skyscraper on the 17th floor.

Key Benefits

• This intensive course is designed to fully expose the concept of SMARTTM in a workshop    setting that enables daily, “hands on” involvement in each of its ten steps.

• Participants not only master the entire process but they are expected to combine it with    knowledge from their corporate world so that, by the completion of the two-week    curriculum, they will have accomplished the equivalent of OSGI’s JumpStart.

• This means that they will be equipped, upon signing a SMARTTM license agreement, to    immediately start implementing SMARTTM in their corporation.