Risk Is Cultural: How Upbringing Shapes Risk Perception and Why It Matters for Risk Leaders

Growing up in a diplomatic family, I moved across continents from a very young age. My family moved from Pakistan to Denmark to Canada and Mozambique before finally putting our roots down in the United States. My father worked for Pakistan’s Foreign Service, and our lives were shaped by shifting borders and diverse worldviews. As a young adult, I traveled throughout Europe and Asia, constantly adapting to new cultural norms.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that these experiences were shaping something fundamental: how I perceive risk. Today, as a senior risk professional with 20 years of industry experience in financial services and risk management, I see clearly that risk is not just technical—it’s deeply cultural.

In the risk management world, we often speak the language of probabilities, controls, and impact matrices. But behind every risk decision is a person shaped by lived experience, cultural expectations, and unconscious bias.

For me, this realization began early. From a very young age, I observed a strong emphasis on consensus and social safety nets. In Mozambique, where we lived during times of instability, I saw a different kind of risk tolerance—one rooted in resilience. In North America, I noticed a more individualistic and rules-based approach. Each setting embedded in me a new lens through which to view uncertainty.

Later, when I began my career in risk at one of top leading Wall Street firms, those cultural lessons became a quiet superpower. I could sense when team members were viewing the same issue through different norms—whether they were based in New York, London, or Mumbai. Recognizing these differences allowed me to build more collaborative, globally attuned teams. This isn’t just anecdotal. Hofstede’s work on “uncertainty avoidance” shows how cultures differ in their comfort with ambiguity. And researchers Weber and Hsee found in 1998 that risk tolerance is not a fixed trait—it’s learned through culture.

At Columbia, I encourage my ERM students—who each bring their own global backgrounds—to reflect on their “risk wiring.” It’s one of the most overlooked aspects of professional judgment. In a world where risk is increasingly complex and interconnected, understanding one’s own lens is critical to leading with insight.

What I’ve learned through cross-cultural childhoods, a 20-year career in risk management, and teaching at Columbia is this: we can’t manage what we don’t understand. And that includes our own assumptions.

The best risk leaders aren’t just analytical, they’re culturally self-aware. They can navigate ambiguity not only with models, but with empathy and perspective. In a field where trust, communication, and sound judgment matter more than ever, this kind of leadership is essential.

I hope our next generation of risk professionals embraces their full identity—and uses it to lead with both rigor and humanity.

Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Columbia School of Professional Studies or Columbia University.