Attention, real risk managers: Do not try this at work

A salesman for a paper company elects himself to create a fire emergency plan for his colleagues, and then sets a fire in the office by throwing a cigarette into a wastepaper basket quipping, “today, smoking is going to save lives.” All to test their knowledge of his emergency plan, a fiasco that results in a worker falling through a drop ceiling, a cat-tossing, and a heart attack.

This person, apparently, would make a great risk manager.

So said attendees at Riskworld, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s annual conference held in Atlanta last week, who were given the chance to vote on which fictional character would make the best risk manager: Dwight Schrute from “The Office,” Velma from “Scooby Doo,” or Spock from “Star Trek.”

The laughter-generating election, created by LineSlip, an insurance software company with a booth at Riskworld, resulted in Mr. Schrute adding another title to his resume: beet farmer, volunteer sheriff’s deputy, and now, possibly, risk manager.

“Popular opinion has spoken,” LineSlip wrote in an announcement Monday.

It was a close race: Mr. Schrute got 39% of the votes; Velma got 37%, and Spock collected 23% of the votes, according to a spokeswoman for LineSlip, who said the activity generated 105 official votes and created some buzz on the expo floor: “We were happy to hear a lot of debate and discussion over the topic during the time we were there. People had a lot to say and everyone was super confident in their answers.”