Over $1 Trillion is destroyed every year because of unprincipled corporate misconduct, mistakes and miscalculations.

Our coworkers and organizations count on GRC Professionals, people who work in governance, strategy, risk, compliance, security, and audit to address this challenge.

Our coworkers and organizations count on us!

Some people call us PROTECTORS because of the work we do to simultaneously produce and preserve value.

But there are some misconceptions about protectors and a false dichotomy.

The misconception is that a protector is only about "playing defense" while the rest of the organization is "playing offense." And the false dichotomy is that "playing defense" and "playing offense" are mutually exclusive.

Both Offense and Defense

The truth is that every organization must play BOTH offense and defense.

As protectors, we know how to DO both and to BE both.

We are "two-way players" who understand that the best way to make progress toward objectives is to simultaneously produce and preserve value.

I like to use an analogy of a mountain climber.

As a climber makes progress toward the summit, they "produce value" toward that goal.

Along the way, there are ups and downs. Things can even go very wrong and the climber can fall into deep crevasses … permanently destroying value.

But as PROTECTORS, we lock in our progress and close gaps with tools and techniques to "preserve value" along the way.

Preserving value along the way not only reduces the “downs” but it also helps to prevent fatal problems that permanently destroy value.

This helps our organizations to reliably achieve objectives, address uncertainty, and act with integrity ... and achieve Principled Performance.

In the context of mountain climbing this might include tools like ropes and clamps. It might mean using techniques like tapping into the side of the mountain to secure safety gear.

And in our organizations, these tools include how we, as protectors, integrate our critical disciplines:

• Governance & Oversight
• Strategy & Performance
• Risk & Decision-Making
• Compliance & Ethics
• Security & Continuity
• Audit & Assurance

By integrating these disciplines, we master the art and science of producing and preserving value.

Who are Protectors?

Protectors are found throughout an organization. Most of the time we find ourselves in departments such as:

• Risk management
• Compliance and ethics
• Internal controls
• Finance
• Legal
• Human resources
• Policy management
• Information security
• Data privacy
• Internal audit

Regardless of the specific department name and specific title, what remains consistent is our desire to produce value, protect value, and help our organizations reliably achieve objectives, address uncertainty, and act with integrity.