operational risk management | ISO 31000 risk framework | risk register | internal controls | compliance | resilience
What You Will Learn:
- Build a risk register and score risks on a heat map with agreed criteria
- Apply the ISO 31000 cycle: identify, assess, treat, escalate, monitor
- Use the three lines of defence to say who owns which control
- Map a process and find the points where a control is missing
- Run a root-cause analysis with 5 Whys, 8D and a cause-and-effect diagram
- Verify a claim, a company or a person from open sources before acting on it
- Reduce key-person risk by capturing knowledge that lives in one head
- Run an audit of a function and turn the gaps into a prioritised roadmap
- Learn alongside Mike’s 1.6 million students from 185 countries
- Get the author’s experience from Preply, Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank
Overview: Beyond the Compliance Box-Ticking
If you’ve spent any time in the tech or fintech trenches, you know that “risk management” is often a term that makes people want to stare into the sun. Most courses on the subject feel like they were written by a legal department that hasn’t seen the light of day since 1998. However, Operational Risk Management: Controls & Resilience by Mike is a different beast entirely. Instead of just dry theory, this course feels like a survival guide for anyone responsible for keeping a company’s wheels from falling off during a pivot or a crisis.
What struck me most was the shift from “how to follow rules” to “how to build a resilient business.” Mike brings his experience from heavy hitters like Wargaming, Preply, and Alfa-Bank, which gives the content a grit you don’t get from career academics. We aren’t just talking about hypothetical disasters; we’re talking about the internal controls that prevent a single developer from accidentally nuking a database or a “key person” leaving the company with all the institutional knowledge locked in their head. The course treats operational risk management as a competitive advantage rather than a bureaucratic hurdle, focusing heavily on job-ready skills that actually translate to a Monday morning meeting.
Prerequisites: What Do You Actually Need?
The beauty of this course is that it’s designed to scale from beginner to advanced. You don’t need a background in actuary science or a degree in finance to get started. If you have a basic understanding of how a business functions and can navigate a spreadsheet, you’re good to go. It’s particularly useful if you’ve been in a mid-level management role and realized you’re “winging it” when it comes to process safety. A little bit of Excel knowledge helps for the risk register segments, but Mike walks you through the logic so clearly that even a total novice can follow along.
Skills & Tools: The GRC Toolbox
This isn’t just a series of lectures; it’s a hands-on lab for your brain. You’ll be diving deep into industry-standard tools and frameworks that are the bread and butter of modern Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC).
- ISO 31000 Risk Framework: You’ll master the full cycle of identify, assess, treat, escalate, and monitor. It’s the gold standard, and Mike makes it digestible.
- Root-Cause Analysis (RCA): This was a highlight for me. Learning the 5 Whys and 8D methodology alongside cause-and-effect diagrams is a game-changer for solving recurring operational headaches.
- The Heat Map: You’ll learn how to actually score risks so you aren’t just shouting that “everything is a priority.”
- OSINT & Verification: A very practical section on how to verify claims and entities from open sources before your company signs a bad contract.
- Key-Person Risk Mitigation: Strategies for capturing knowledge so your department doesn’t collapse when your lead engineer goes on vacation.
Career Benefits & Job Roles
If you’re looking for career growth, this course is a massive signal to employers. We are currently in an era where “growth at all costs” has been replaced by “sustainable, resilient growth.” Professionals who understand compliance and resilience are seeing a spike in demand.
This course serves as excellent certification prep for those eyeing formal GRC roles or looking to bolster their CV for positions like Operations Manager, Risk Analyst, Internal Auditor, or Compliance Officer. Even for a Senior Product Manager or Engineering Lead, being able to run an audit of a function and turn the gaps into a prioritized roadmap is a high-leverage skill that justifies a higher salary bracket. It’s about becoming the person who can tell the board, “We have a problem, but here is exactly how we’re controlling it.”
Pros: Why This Course Sticks
- Real-World Projects: The course doesn’t just tell you what a risk register is; it makes you build one. This “learning by doing” approach ensures you walk away with job-ready skills rather than just a certificate.
- The Three Lines of Defence: Mike explains ownership better than anyone I’ve heard. It finally clears up the “who does what” confusion between ops, risk, and audit teams.
- Instructor Credibility: Having an instructor with 1.6 million students who has actually worked in the high-stakes environments of iDeals and Wargaming adds a level of trust that “automated” AI courses lack.
Cons: The Honest Take
If I have one gripe, it’s that some of the ISO 31000 sections can feel a bit rigid. While the framework is essential, applying it to a tiny, 10-person startup might feel like overkill if you follow it to the letter. I would have loved a small “lite” version of the framework specifically for hyper-growth companies where documentation usually goes to die, but that’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise stellar curriculum.