A paranoid person is merely someone in possession of all the facts, or so I like to think. I am what you would call a reasonably paranoid person; basically, I like to be prepared. If I'm driving somewhere I've never been, I want handwritten or printed directions and the phone number of where I'm going; no GPS for me. When preparing for a trip, I over-pack. My iPhone battery has more than enough juice at all times. Oh, you cut yourself? Here, I keep a Band-Aid (and at least one guitar pick) in my wallet.

This, of course, is the type of mindset that has evolved into the discipline of risk management, in which all manner of public and private enterprise has one or several people whose job it is to lie awake at night wondering what else could go wrong. Last month, I attended the RIMS conference in Los Angeles, the annual gathering of The World's Most Successful Paranoid People, and I imagine that during said conference, the number of carefully set alarm clocks in the City of Angels must have been at a record high.

I kid, of course. Managing risk is far more than professional worrying; it is about protecting that which we hold dear. In doing so, the question that inevitably emerges is this: What in this world do I value the most, and what steps can I take to protect it?