Political Risk

How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity

By: Condoleezza Rice, Amy B. Zegart

Narrated by: Grace Angela Henry

From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it.

The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company's business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today's globalized world, there are no "safe" bets.

POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don't get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.

Critic reviews

"Rice and Zegart's POLITICAL RISK should be read by every business leader. Any company that fails to learn and apply the lessons of this wise and practical book can quickly find itself in rapid decline. But equally, those who become skilled at its application can do more than merely mitigate such risks; they can thrive upon them. Well-written and chock-full of compelling case stories wrapped inside a coherent conceptual framework, POLITICAL RISK gets and keeps your attention, page after page. We cannot predict the future, but -- with the help of this marvelous masterwork--- we can prepare for it."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px Arial}Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and co-author of Great by Choice and Built to Last

"Smart. Informative. Overdue. Will completely change the way you think about political risk."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #2d2d2d}Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and Alphabet, Inc.

"Secretary Rice and Dr. Zegart have melded their professional experiences of managing political risk at the highest levels with other case studies into a uniquely useful and profound book."—p.p1 {margin: 5.0px 0.0px 5.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #275d90}span.s1 {color: #2c2c2c}Frederick W. Smith, chairman & CEO, FedEx Corporation

"Political risk was once centered on honest-to-goodness political actors -- governments, central banks and the like. But as Rice and Zegart clearly show, technology has forever changed who counts as a 'political actor.' This book is truly excellent, both for tracing how far the political risk field has come in the last two decades, and how much further it has left to go."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #2c2c2c}Ian Bremmer, president, Eurasia Group

"Clearly written and timely, this book will interest not only current and future business executives but also would-be-whistle-blowers and corporate watchdogs."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom

"Condoleezza Rice serves as an able and insightful guide in this journey through democracy across the globe. Her knowledge and clear-eyed assessment of the challenges facing this system of government make this book an important contribution to a pressing debate on democracy today."—Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations

"[An] accessibly written study of that imperfect but ideal form of government...[One that] deserves a broad audience, especially in our current political climate."—Kirkus Starred Review

"[A] ringing call for democracy promotion...Ms. Rice should be commended."—Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal

Love it

Love Condoleezza Rice, smart, detailed, strategic. I’d love to see - Condoleezza Rice for president 2024.

Interesting Read

Good topic if you own a business. Wish they spent more time explaining how to solve problems brought up in book.

Learn by Listening

Remember Sea World? Remember United? Based on a Stamford course, this book is built around stories and case histories and the lessons we can draw from them. Fascinating listening, and flawlessly read!

Great!

Excellent book. WIll recommend to friends! The examples given in this book are very well explained.

A whole course on Risk

If everyone understood risk and the world as well as these two authors we would be so much better humans.