Beyond the risk registers, the quantitative risk analysis, decision support tools and compliance checklists, the true art of risk management lies within you – the chief risk officer. It’s not just about what you know, but who you are.
The most effective chief risk officers don’t just see threats, they see themselves. They understand that their character, their style, and their approach to people are as critical as any technical skill. This is where the power of chief risk officer archetypes comes into play.
By exploring these universal models of leadership, you can unlock another level of self-awareness allowing you to not only understand your natural strengths but also strategically adapt your approach to master the ever-evolving landscape of risk.
What is an Archetype?
An archetype is a universal model or pattern. Think of an archetype as a basic blueprint for a character, idea, or behaviour that appears again and again across different cultures and stories.
In business, archetypes are often applied to brands to help companies define their identity, guide strategy, and connect with customers on a deeper, more emotional level. They serve as psychological shortcuts that make complex ideas more relatable and memorable. For example, “The Hero” archetype is used for brands that empower customers to be their best. Think of Nike and its “Just Do It” slogan. Another example is “The Outlaw” archetype that is used for brands that challenge the status quo and empower rebellion. Harley-Davidson and Virgin are well-known for this.
Archetypes can also be used to understand and categorise leadership styles and professional roles. This helps in talent management, team building, personal development and recruiting the “right” person.
For example, when recruiting a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), archetypes help identify which leader fits the company’s current stage of growth. The Fix-It Leader, or Change-Catalyst, is a specialised archetype used for company turnarounds. This leader is not a builder or innovator. They are a turnaround expert whose main goal is to diagnose problems, make difficult decisions and start the changes to restore a company’s health.
Using Chief Risk Officer Archetypes
By categorising risk leaders into archetypes, it may help the board and CEO understand what kind of expertise and risk leadership is required to manage complex challenges. This approach allows for a more intentional and strategic approach to talent management and organisational design within the C-suite.
Warning, archetypes are not static “personality types” as we see in the The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tool for understanding personality. The MBTI’s goal is to sort people into one of 16 distinct, static “personality types” (like INTJ or ESFP) based on their preferences in four dichotomous categories. In contrast, archetypes are more dynamic and symbolic. An individual may be influenced by several archetypes at different times and in different ways.
The 4 Chief Risk Officer Archetypes
From our literary review, there are a handful of chief risk officer archetypes already identified mainly from large and credible consulting firms. Most of these models have presented three archetypes for risk leadership.
Deeper research into these models and a reflection from our real-world experience that include our assessment of various risk management frameworks, risk leadership, risk culture, risk maturity and risk capability across public and private sector organisations has revealed a fourth, distinct profile. In total, we have identified four chief risk officer archetypes that serve as strategic blueprints for how a risk leader operates within an organisation. And remember, a risk leader may be influenced by several archetypes at different times and in different ways.
These archetypes aren’t about a person’s personality type. They describe a leader’s primary focus, motivation, and style. Leaders can tailor these approaches to a company’s specific needs at different stages of its risk maturity.
1. The Innovator
The Innovator is a risk leader who see risk as strategic tool for growth and competitive advantage, not a barrier.
They are not just managing risk but actively using it to drive the business forward. They are forward-looking, visionary, and a strong partner to the business.
Innovators work hand-in-hand with the business to help drive growth and capture new opportunities. Instead of focusing solely on protection, they are visionaries who use advanced technology, risk models and a higher risk appetite to help the C-suite build new business models, launch ventures, and expand into new markets.
They have a higher tolerance for risk and focus on identifying opportunities within higher levels of uncertainty and complexity. Operating in higher levels of uncertainty is their comfort zone.
Their key questions are “How can we use risk to our advantage?” and “What’s the best way to take a calculated risk?”
As their core motivation is value creation, Innovators are ideal for high-growth companies, start-ups, new product launches, market expansion, M&A projects or supporting innovation within a larger corporation.
2. The Guardian
The Guardians are risk leaders who prioritise building a resilient and sustainable organisation. They see themselves as the ultimate protectors of the organisation.
Their primary focus is on long-term protection, sustainability and resilience – not just short-term problem solving. They typically create strong and stable foundations to withstand future shocks.
Guardians methodically structure their work and focus heavily on risk governance. They build robust frameworks, embed a strong risk culture, and ensure compliance with regulations. Their main concern is with what could go wrong and how to prevent it.
In essence, the Guardians’ mission is to safeguard the organisation from the ground up, thereby making sure it can weather any storm and any emerging risk.
They often ask, “Are we prepared for the future?” and “What safeguards do we need?”
Guardians thrive in established, risk-averse, and highly regulated organisations. In these environments, long-term stability and resilience matter more than aggressive growth. Consequently, the Guardian’s methodical and protective nature perfectly suits sectors where failure is costly and compliance is mandatory. This is why Guardians are prominent in financial services, healthcare, and public sector agencies.
3. The Operator
The Operators are the risk leaders who excel at the practical, day-to-day management of risk. They are pragmatic problem-solvers who excel at managing the day-to-day realities of risk. They are very hands-on and focus on efficiency, crisis management, and immediate results.
Operators thrive in situations demanding efficiency, decisive action, and stability.
They are action-oriented and decisive, with a strong focus on the present. For this reason, they are often brought in to help stabilise a business, resolve a crisis, or streamline operations. Furthermore, they prioritise getting the fundamentals right and aren’t afraid to make tough, unpopular decisions. Ultimately, Operators are all about managing immediate challenges, whether they’re navigating a crisis or ensuring smooth, efficient operations by de-risking them.
Their key questions are “How can we fix this right now?” and “What is the most efficient way to manage this?”
Their value lies in their ability to handle real-world challenges with speed and precision, ensuring the company remains stable and on course.
Operators are ideal for organisations facing a range of immediate risks and resilience challenges, undergoing restructuring, or those that prioritise efficiency and stability over radical growth. They excel in environments where direct problem-solving is a top priority. Operators thrive in organisations with known risk management issues, companies in crisis, and highly regulated industries. Their pragmatic, action-oriented approach helps them solve problems directly.
4. The Influencer
The Influencers are risk leaders who rely on collaboration and communication to achieve their goals. Instead of using a top-down, command-and-control approach, they use soft power to build consensus and unite disparate teams. In other words, they don’t lead through authority, but through collaboration and persuasion.
Influencers are catalysts for change, focusing on uniting people and building a shared understanding of risk across the entire organisation.
They are collaborative, communicative, and empathetic. They build strong networks, facilitate cross-functional dialogue, and empower others to take ownership of risk.
Their primary question is “How can we get everyone on the same page?” and “How do we build trust?”
Therefore, they are natural facilitators who create open dialogue and a common language around risk, ensuring that risk management becomes a collective responsibility rather than a siloed function.
The Influencer archetype is ideal for organisations that need to foster a collaborative risk culture, break down silos, or manage complex transformations where buy-in from multiple stakeholders is critical. Their strength lies in their ability to unite disparate teams and build consensus. Influencers thrive in large, complex organisations, companies undergoing major transformations, and industries where collaboration, project-based work, and teamwork are critical to success.
Final Thoughts
These four archetypes provide a powerful lens for understanding different styles, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to risk leadership.
It is possible for a chief risk officer to possess elements of all four archetypes, but it’s highly unlikely they will master them all equally. Most individuals have a dominant, natural style they rely on, with secondary styles they can develop and use when a situation calls for it.
Ultimately, by recognising if you’re predominantly an Innovator, Guardian, Operator, or Influencer, you can leverage your natural strengths and identify your blind spots. In turn, this allows you to intentionally adapt your approach to fit your organisation’s specific needs.
These archetypes transform the abstract idea of a “risk personality” into a practical framework for self-awareness and professional growth. This lets you do more than just manage risk. It also helps you engage better with key stakeholders and master your role in shaping a resilient, successful future.
The goal isn’t to be all four at once, but to understand which style a given situation demands and to be flexible enough to apply it.
How We Can Help You Take Better Risks
We are here to help strengthen your risk management capabilities, systems and processes. Our risk management capabilities include:
- Providing an interim Chief Risk Officer to backfill a vacancy.
- Providing a dedicated Risk Officer on demand through our Virtual Risk Officer service.
- Helping organisations take their first steps towards implementing a formal and proactive enterprise-wide risk management framework.
- Performing an independent review or health check of your existing risk management framework to identify gaps and level of maturity.
- Conducting risk workshops covering strategic, operational and project risks.
- Conducting risk culture assessments.
- Risk management transformation.
- Supporting you across a range of risk management services including business continuity, crisis management, cyber risk, climate change risk, third party risk and fraud risk.
Take risk management to the next level and contact us to discuss your needs.