Risk, meet Game of Thrones — Robert Baratheon and Succession Planning

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers up to and including season 2 of Game of Thrones.

Risk can take on many meanings; in finance it means the chance that the return on an investment is different from the expected, in general terms it is the uncertainty associated with a future event, in strategic planning it is a lens to view decisions through. It was this final version of risk that I was thinking about when working on our Enterprise Risk Management framework when a familiar tune popped into my head… Dum dum, da da, dum dum, da da, dum dum, da da, dum dum… How would the rulers of Westeros have fared if they took this approach to their rule?

This series of blogs will examine characters from Game of Thrones and the corporate lessons we can learn from their reign.

Robert Baratheon

Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.

Robert Baratheon was ruler of the Seven Kingdoms after overthrowing King Aerys II Targaryen in a rebellion. Robert usurped the throne and married Cersei Lannister in an attempt to fulfil the unenviable task of bringing peace to the Seven Kingdoms. Robert eventually died on a hunting…