EDITORIAL Clear and simple W ho didnt see that coming? Many of us like to think were switchedon enough to see a seemingly inevitable scenario pan out, but the reality is that we are all often wise only after the event. The patterns or processes that were indiscernible at the time become glaringly obvious with our Hindsight 20:20 glasses on. Who would have predicted, in the first days of May, that the UK would return a majority Conservative government, after weeks of opinion polls consistently pointing to the certainty of a hung parliament? Who could have foreseen the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA exploding so quickly after years of business-asusual from the worlds largest sporting association? Looking back, even just weeks after a surprise event, we rationalise the imperfections of our less-than-perfect foresight. The signs were there all along if wed only been looking in the right place. While wed all like a crystal-ball app on our smartphones, in the real world risk professionals are busy avoiding the headlines in their day-to-day roles often in the most unfussy and unglamorous ways. The work they do is frequently unseen; when it comes to organisation crises and corporate chaos, only risk management failures tend to make the news. Wider importance of risk practitioners to a successful organisation can often be overlooked and go unrecognised. Changes Nonetheless, the risk profession is moving more into the spotlight, with a growing requirement for risk education at all levels of organisations and this is becoming particularly important at board level, with new regulations and guidelines requiring a keener focus on risk. We explore this issue in our feature Board decisions. Clearly, its an important period for the risk profession. This summer will herald a new era for risk practitioners, with the launch, on 1 July, of IRM Certification. This will provide a clear route to recognition of knowledge, expertise and experience within the profession, providing employers with a consistent, straightforward way to identify the high-calibre, qualified risk professionals they require for their organisations. We examine this in more detail in Future focus. While this may not make the front-page headlines, it may certainly help some organisations avoid unwanted ones. Phil Lattimore Editor RMProfessional