How to Flip Risk into Potential New Revenue: One Lesson from Grad Students in Silicon Alley.

1. Know the business model.
Really know the business model. Spend time discussing, evaluating, and applying strategic risk tools to understand and score the business model. One key strategic risk is the health of the business model.

2. Write the business epitaph.
Ponder the death risk combination of trends and disruption that could take out or severely impact the business in the future.

3. Using the insights from #1 and #2, confront the upside risk and opportunity. 
Learn how to generate new revenue opportunities using new business models (a strategic risk tool). Map the ideas to help see feasibility or identify early wins. 

Students at St. John's mapped out their approach to a Fortune 100 company.

APPLICATION:
Graduate Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) students at St. John's University Tobin College of Business applied the approach above to a Fortune 100 company. The students also mapped the ideas (see left). As the photo shows, these millennials thought there was tremendous upside opportunity—untapped revenue. 

This exercise was part of a class assignment. St. John's University is one of a few schools that offer both an MS ERM and a MBA in ERM. Sitting in what some call Silicon Alley, St. John's shares the same building with IBM's Watson.