Artisans, Professionals and Risk Management

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

"Never put all your eggs in one basket" is a saying that occurs in one form or another in just about every language in every culture. The paradox is that for most of us in work today, it's the opposite advice to what we have practiced. Work hard, get a good qualification, train in a profession and find a reputable company. Work, retire, and die respectably with minimum fuss.

Personally, I did the first bit and was lucky enough to find myself in a good job with a reputable employer which I quickly learned to really dislike. My family's reaction when I quit was not pretty, but four decades later realise just how lucky I was. I have seen people I knew at the time retire into emptiness. They have grander titles and bigger pensions, but it's no trade off.

I sometimes think that the last few decades have domesticated us. We have been house trained into organisations. Whereas before the industrial revolution we had villages of co-dependent people who betwe…