Insurance companies are among the most sophisticated risk evaluators in the world — for their policyholders. They employ actuaries, build probabilistic models, stress-test exposure scenarios, and require extensive documentation before committing to coverage.
Yet when it comes to their own strategic decisions — a $100 million technology platform migration, a major acquisition, expansion into a new market, or restructuring a reinsurance treaty — those decisions are often approved by the same leadership team that developed them. No independent stress-testing. No external assumption verification. No unbiased second opinion.
Technology transformation projects in insurance fail or significantly underperform at rates between 50 and 70 percent. Post-merger integration consistently produces hidden exposure. New market entries stall when regulatory timelines exceed projections.
The irony is striking: an industry built on the principle that risk should be evaluated before commitment routinely skips that step for its own most consequential decisions.