Risk Strategists & One Governance Converge in the NAVI Era

Key Takeaways

• EY Global Risk Transformation Study: 73% of organizations remain unprepared for the NAVI world (nonlinear, accelerated, volatile, interconnected).
• The Risk Strategist Archetype: Nearly 50% more effective at reducing unexpected risks, faster at incident response, and five times more likely to integrate risk and business metrics.
• Risk as Strategy: Leaders treat uncertainty as a growth enabler, shifting from episodic assessments to continuous sensing, foresight, and accountability.
• One Governance Framework: EY’s German-led initiative provides the operating model — shared ontologies, digital twins, and integration — that scales the Risk Strategist mindset.
• GRC 7.0 – Orchestrate: Risk Strategists (mindset) and One Governance (operating system) converge into a unified model of governance, risk, compliance, and performance.

Deep Dive

EY’s latest Global Risk Transformation Study draws a sharp line between organizations merely enduring volatility and those converting it into strategic momentum. In today’s NAVI world (nonlinear, accelerated, volatile, interconnected) the margin between thriving and stumbling is defined not by luck, but by leadership mindset and structural alignment.

Nearly three-quarters of organizations admit they are not prepared for this unpredictable risk landscape. Yet a small but growing archetype, the Risk Strategists, are rewriting the playbook. These leaders are not only 48% more effective at reducing unexpected risks, but they are also dramatically faster at incident response and far more likely to integrate risk data with business performance metrics.

The Mindset Shift: Risk as Strategy

What distinguishes the Risk Strategist is not a safer operating environment, but a deliberate choice to approach risk as strategy rather than compliance overhead. They treat uncertainty as a growth enabler, embedding foresight into decisions and aligning risk directly with organizational objectives.

Instead of periodic risk snapshots, they operate in continuous mode: sensing weak signals, modeling scenarios, and ensuring accountability across the enterprise. They are also harnessing tools, from AI and analytics to dashboards and digital twins, to shrink the distance between risk signal and strategic response.

This aligns seamlessly with what I describe as GRC 7.0 – GRC Orchestrate: the evolution from siloed risk management toward orchestration of governance, risk, compliance, and performance as an integrated ecosystem.

One Governance: The Operating Model

Complementing the Risk Strategist mindset is another EY initiative gaining traction i.e., One Governance, developed by Benjamin Lüders and Patrick Risch in Germany. Their vision provides the structural foundation that allows Risk Strategists to scale their approach across complex enterprises.

One Governance creates a unified operating system:

• A shared ontology linking risk, compliance, audit, ESG, and controls.
• Governance embedded into frontline operations rather than limited to oversight functions.
• Digital twins that map processes, dependencies, and assets, enabling real-time resilience testing.
• Board models that shift directors from passive oversight to active orchestration of risk-informed decisions.

As Patrick Risch aptly put it in the Risk Is Our Business Podcast, “GRC must move from the back office to the front lines of the business. That’s the goal of One Governance.”

Two Parts of the Same Whole

Together, Risk Strategists and One Governance form two halves of a unified vision. The strategist defines the mindset and leadership archetype; One Governance delivers the structural and technological foundation.

This convergence represents not just an evolution but a necessary adaptation to the NAVI world. It’s also a validation of the broader GRC 7.0 shift: governance, risk, and compliance operating as one orchestrated framework, inseparable from performance and integrity.

The NAVI era is no place for reactive, compliance-only approaches. Organizations must move beyond process efficiency to embrace foresight, integration, and orchestration.

EY’s Risk Strategist archetype shows the mindset required. EY’s One Governance provides the operating model to enable it.

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