I once facilitated a board risk retreat for a fast-growing financial services firm. They had just crossed the 500 billion shilling mark in assets. Celebration everywhere. Balloons. Banners. Speeches. But I noticed something odd in the boardroom. Every risk they mentioned was either on their risk register or in their last audit report. Not one board member asked, “What are we blind to?” I asked the members to reflect: “What if your biggest risk isn’t in the room? What if it is the thing you are not talking about because it is invisible to your current systems?” That is the danger. We confuse known problems with true risk. Real risk is like carbon monoxide. Odourless. Colourless. But lethal. I once helped a health sector agency that had strong anti-fraud controls. But one junior officer siphoned funds undetected for 4 years. Why? Everyone trusted her. She smiled. Never took leave. The audit only checked transactions above a certain threshold. Their risk? Not fraud. Blind trust. When I dive into organizations, I do not ask for the risk register first. I ask for stories. Near misses. Whispers. Staff complaints. That is where you find real risk. Here is your leadership tool: “What if your biggest risk isn’t in the room? What if it is the thing you are not talking about because it is invisible to your current systems?” Tweet Mr Strategy’s Blindspot Risk Test a) Ask each EXCO member privately, “What risk keeps you up at night but you feel is too awkward to raise in a meeting?” b) Next, ask three junior staff from different units, “What is the one thing you think management is ignoring?” c) Finally, ask yourself, “If I were fired today, what would my successor fix first?” That is your real risk. Now, address it. Mr. Strategy

Data analytics is a core business skill. From Finance, Audit, Risk, and Compliance to the boardroom, you need data-driven insights to make informed decisions. At summitBI Data Analytics, we have created a weekly challenge to improve your data analytics skills. For customized training for your team, please contact us at support[at]summitcl.com, or WhatsApp 0775845691 for an instant quote or to attend our general classes every Thursday of the week. Or you can register here Now take the challenge This practical test covers various Excel functionalities, including shortcut keys, formula usage, and best practices for financial modeling. A score of below 55% indicates you should take our data analytics training classes immediately. The following Excel Test is designed to help you assess your knowledge of basic Excel functions and formulas. Instructions a) Download the summitBI Data Analytics weekly challenge. b) Attempt and upload your answers Download challenge Mr. Strategy

During one strategy retreat, a seasoned board member told a story about a broken lock. It revealed why many internal auditors do not add value. They just collect the monthly paycheque for the role of “window dressing” compliance check-box. “We have an internal audit department.” We meet the requirement! You get the idea. He said, “A vault had five locks. Four were strong and regularly checked. The fifth, hidden at the back, was old and rusty. No one paid attention to it. One day, the vault was emptied, not broken into, just quietly opened through that one weak point. The lesson? Too many auditors focus only on the obvious. They check what is working, not what’s quietly failing. They audit the known risks, not the unknown exposures. They miss the silent threats, the culture gaps, tech loopholes, the poor assumptions, and process drift.” To add value, internal auditors must evolve, not just as inspectors, but as strategic sentinels and surveillance experts. A good internal auditor is an intelligence gatherer, spotting early signals, decoding patterns, and surfacing hidden threats before they escalate. The 5 mindsets that make a winning, future-ready internal auditor: 1) Anticipate, don’t just assess. Don’t wait for risks to be defined. Sense emerging threats –cyber for high digital trust, culture, ESG, AI–before they’re on the risk register. 2) Read people, not just policies. Fraud doesn’t hide in procedures; it hides in people. Watch behaviour. Listen between the lines. Culture is the real control environment. 3) Disrupt the comfort zones. If an area has never been audited, that’s a red flag. Challenge the sacred cows. Audit where it’s politically sensitive. That’s where risk hides. 4). Think in systems, not silos. See how finance connects to IT, how ops links to brand, and how weak governance creates strategic risk. Map interdependencies. 5) Be an intelligence asset, not a compliance officer. Deliver insights the board didn’t expect. Become their early warning radar, not just a post-mortem technician. Don’t be the auditor who only checks the four strong locks. Be the one who finds the fifth, the quiet weakness no one dared to see. If you want to be trusted in the future, be feared for what you see today. Start now, audit the invisible, challenge assumptions, anticipate danger, and bring it to the attention of the leadership. That is what makes you special – anticipating what could go wrong and making recommendations to prevent it and prepare for it. I remain, Mr. Strategy.