Leadership Lessons with Major General (Ret.) Robert F. Whittle Jr., RIMS Texas Keynote

Jul 22, 2025

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Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Justin interviews Major General (Ret.) Robert F. Whittle, Jr., RIMS Texas Keynote speaker, about his experience as Deputy Commanding General of Operations for U.S. Army North, responsible for homeland defense and coordination with civil authorities, about his experience with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its work in water resource management, and the lessons he can share for flood preparedness. Justin and Robert (Bob) discuss risk management training that engineers receive and how it applies to combat operations and domestic situations. Bob talks about building trust in different cultures. Finally, he shares some of what he will cover in his closing keynote on August 6th for the RIMS Texas Regional in San Antonio, Texas, from August 4th through 6th.

Listen to learn military lessons that apply to risk management in industry.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:15] To our friends and RIMS members in Texas, it has been heartbreaking to witness the devastation caused by the floods in the Lone Star State.

[:23] Your RIMS community extends its heartfelt thoughts and wishes for your health, safety, and well-being during this challenging time.

[:30] The floods are a stark reminder of the critical role that risk professionals play in a crisis. The RIMS Hurricane and Storm Risk Management Resource Center offers several informative articles and resources about flood and storm preparedness and recovery.

[:45] As you navigate through your recovery efforts, please know that you have the support of RIMS.

[:50] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest today is Major General (Retired) Robert F. Whittle, Jr. He will be the closing keynote speaker at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference on August 6th. We will talk about his military career and flood risk and leadership.

[1:23] RIMScast is a proud nominee of the 20th Annual People's Choice Podcast Awards. I'm hoping I can count on you to help us bring this win home! Vote by going to PodcastAwards.com and the link in this episode's notes.

[1:40] Sign up with your email, find RIMScast under Government and Organizations, and save your nomination. Every vote counts! Thank you so much for your support!

[1:50] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! The next Virtual RIMS-CRMP exam prep, co-hosted by Parima, will be held on September 2nd and 3rd.

[2:00] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED virtual workshop will be held on November 11th and 12th, in conjunction with George Mason University and led by Joseph Mayo. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes.

[2:17] RIMS Virtual Workshops! We have a day-long course on July 24th, "Risk Taxonomy for Effective Risk Management." On August 5th, we have a day-long course about "Emerging Risks." [2:30] RIMS has launched a new course, "Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders." This is a two-day course. The first two-day course will be held on August 12th and 13th and will be led by former RIMS President, Chris Mandel.

[2:45] The course will be held again on November 4th and 5th and will be led by Elise Farnham. RIMS members enjoy deep discounts!

[2:54] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes.

[3:05] If you tuned in to the recent episode featuring James Lam, you will know he is hosting a new six-module workshop for us, the "RIMS-CRO Certificate in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management".

[3:19] The inaugural summer course is completely sold out! We are filled to the virtual capacity! Don't worry, in the Fall, the bi-weekly course will begin on October 9th. Registration closes on October 2nd. A link is in this episode's notes. Check it out and register today!

[3:38] Mark your calendars for November 17th and 18th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 in Seattle, Washington. The Call for Nominations for the ERM Award of Distinction has been distributed. There is a link in this episode's show notes. The nomination deadline is August 16th.

[3:59] If your organization's ERM program or one you know of has generated and retained value and led to the growth of your organization, consider nominating that ERM program and manager for the ERM Award of Distinction 2025.

[4:13] RISKWORLD 2026 will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 3rd through May 6th. RIMS members can now lock in the 2025 rate for a full conference pass to RISKWORLD 2026 when registering by September 30th.

[4:27] This also lets you enjoy earlier access to the RISKWORLD hotel block. Register by September 30th, and you will also be entered to win a $500 raffle. Don't miss out on this chance to plan and score some extra perks.

[4:40] The members-only registration link is in this episode's show notes. If you are not yet a member, this is the time to register at RIMS.org/membership.

[4:50] On with the show! Robert F. Whittle Jr. was a Major General of the U.S. Army. He retired in 2023 as the Deputy Commanding General of Operations for the U.S. Army North. He is also Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff to the CEO at USAA.

[5:06] On August 6th, he will deliver the closing keynote at the RIMS Texas Regional, providing highlights from his 33 years in the Army, including years as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division.

[5:20] I'm so glad he's here to provide a preview of his keynote and also discuss flood risk and leadership. Let's get to it!

[5:28] Interview! Retired Major General Robert F. Whittle Jr., welcome to RIMScast!

[5:35] Joining us now is one of the RIMS Texas Regional's keynotes, Major General (Retired) Bob Whittle.

[5:46] Major General (Retired) Bob Whittle, Jr. asks Justin to call him Bob.

[6:03] This is the inaugural Texas Regional event. Bob is excited about it. He loves Texas, and he knows people are coming from all over the country to attend. Justin adds that it's a big deal for the Texas chapters, which are some of the most active and voluminous RIMS chapters.

[6:27] Bob's keynote will close out the Conference on August 6th.

[6:31] Today's discussion will be about flood risk and then about leadership.

[6:47] Bob's bio is on the RIMS Texas Regional page.

[6:52] Bob was Deputy Commanding General of Operations for the U.S. Army North, responsible for Homeland Defense and coordination with civil authorities. One major event occurred domestically while he was there.

[7:17] That was the integration of 70,000 refugees from Afghanistan to the United States. When the U.S. left Afghanistan, a lot of interpreters, their families, and other key players were able to come to the United States. They needed help integrating into U.S. society with jobs and homes.

[8:05] Bob says there was never an expectation that we would have to move 70,000 people here. We thought that Afghanistan would continue to move forward after we left, but it fell pretty rapidly. Some Afghan interpreters and officers who were under threat were brought to the U.S.

[8:52] One of the challenges in any kind of operation like that is that it involves Federal, state, and local officials, and non-governmental organizations. Within the Federal side, we have FEMA, the State Department, and the Department of Defense.

[9:14] These agencies worked together to build a framework and partner with the other authorities. The first risk is that politics or ego get in the way of accomplishing the mission.

[9:28] The mitigation for that is trying to build relationships well ahead of the crisis, so people trust each other and can work together. They constantly emphasized the unity of the mission.

[9:41] It's not unity of command, as there's no chain of command with all the partnerships, but there must be unity over the mission of resettling the Afghan refugees.

[10:06] Justin asks if Bob is as easygoing as he seems. Bob says, you'd have to ask the people he worked with to get a solid understanding of who he is, versus how he self-reports. He says he is known for being cool, calm, and collected. When he needs to step it up, he can do it rapidly.

[10:35] Bob found that projecting a calm personality helped him build trust. From years in the military, Bob learned that you succeed by making your peers successful. The more you help your peers, the more likely it is that you will earn a promotion or the assignment that you want.

[11:37] Bob was in the Corps of Engineers for 33 years. He's a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Virginia. He led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division. The civilian side of the Corps of Engineers deals with infrastructure.

[12:13] Bob speaks of dam safety. The Corps of Engineers is responsible for the dams in Federal Navigation channels. They work through the inherent risks of the dams, making sure they have the right controls in place and testing to ensure that the controls are there.

[12:42] There are so many other dams in the U.S. Some of them are private. While Bob was at the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, two private dams failed in Michigan, the Edenville Dam and the Sanford Dam. The Corps went up there to assist and help determine the root cause.

[13:07] It was a lesson in making sure you are doing all the right things from a risk perspective. Controls weren't in place. Some issues had been identified but not mitigated. The State of Michigan stepped in and worked with the private company to mitigate the issues.

[13:35] The dams had failed, and there was a lot of flooding in that area. It was unexpected as it had not happened before. It was in May 2020, a month after COVID-19 started hitting.

[13:53] When things happen, you have to look forward. The Corps of Engineers is key. If the Ohio River drops too low for barge traffic to go through, eventually, Nashville starts to have a lot of trouble with power. It's very important to keep the Corps of Engineers running.

[14:15] During COVID-19, the Secretary of Defense stated, "I want everybody in the Defense Department to stop moving. Stay where you are." Bob was the Acting Deputy of the Corps of Engineers then. He immediately communicated to the 37K in the Corps, Don't stop moving.

[14:32] If the Army Corps of Engineers had stopped, it would have been a huge issue. There were repair shifts at work, making sure things were running. In Michigan, when those two dams failed, the Corps put their masks on and moved out to help solve issues.

[15:03] The risk framework the Corps of Engineers uses for dam safety is similar to what Bob has seen in industry and similar to what the Army does, even at a small unit level. The Army has a risk document that they use for training or going into combat.

[15:26] The Army's risk document covers inherent risk, the probability of an issue, mitigation and controls, residual risk, and what the impact would be. The controls are the most important thing. They help ensure a low probability of a huge issue. The risk document is simple, and it works.

[16:17] On the topic of the tragic recent Texas floods, how should leaders be thinking about flood risk mitigation? Bob knows that everyone involved in the situation is doing the absolute best that they can. If you want to be prepared for any disaster, it starts with simple planning.

[17:24] You have to look at what the disaster may be, what the probability of it may be, and if it does occur, the key things that will need to happen on the ground in response, the people who will need to be involved, the resources they will need, and the timing of those activities.

[17:46] It's like deliberate project management. You have to make assumptions in the beginning about what will happen. The next thing is getting funding for the resources, the people, and the tasks that have to occur.

[18:01] There's a lot of deliberate planning and, for any domestic emergency in the U.S., the planning has to be done at the Federal level, the State level, the local level, and with non-governmental organizations that will be involved.

[18:15] The first step is building relationships ahead of time. Step two is to have rehearsals. The rehearsals can be with a map and some key leaders on site. Rehearsals help to validate the planning you've done.

[18:51] In a disaster, one of the first steps is to allocate resources. There were decisions about resources when COVID-19 hit all over the U.S. They couldn't just send money to one area. The Federal government, states, local governments, and NGOs decided how to allocate resources.

[19:23] Bob points out that you can decide with no information or with 100% of the information. In an emergency, you don't have time to get 100% of the information out there, so you need to determine if you have enough information to make this decision and if you need to act now.

[19:46] It's about risk. Do you take a chance? Risk is all about the probability of success. It's achieving an objective.

[20:04] After the disaster is over, a lot of people evaluate those decisions and take two years to study whether the right decision was made. You've got to be in the shoes of the person making the decision, with the same timing, to understand how they did it and why.

[20:24] You do want to review the decisions, to learn from them, but you have to know that these leaders are making decisions based on the time available and the necessity of moving things forward.

[20:36] Plugs with Roma Rishi, Sr. Sales Executive, Origami Risk! Origami Risk is excited to be a sponsor at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference. Origami Risk will have a booth there to demonstrate their products. They will also speak at one of the sessions.

[21:17] They will be talking with Roy Hock, the Director of Excess Insurance at Valero Energy, about leveraging technology to manage your captive. See Origami at its table, at its session, or both!

[21:30] Origami Risk will be at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference from August 4th through August 6th. Origami Risk will also be at the tenth Chicagoland Risk Forum, on September 18th at the Old Post Office in Chicago.

[21:44] Origami Risk will have a booth there, and Roma's colleague, Gina Rothweiler, is going to be speaking. Come find Origami Risk at the Chicagoland Risk Forum!

[21:54] Registration is complimentary for members of risk management departments in the nearby area. A link to the registration page is in this episode's show notes. You can visit ChicagoRIMS.org as well.

[22:15] On October 1st through the 3rd, Origami Risk will be in the Bay Area, California, for the RIMS Western Regional Conference. They will have a booth and will speak at a session with the Risk Manager of Sprouts about leveraging data and technology for proactive risk management.

[22:44] Origami Risk will be at RIMS ERM, on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. That agenda is being built. Origami Risk will have a kiosk and hope to speak, too.

[22:59] Origami Risk will have a presence at the 2025 Florida RIMS Educational Conference from July 29th through August 2nd. Connect with Roma's colleague Alex and Origami Risk there.

[23:19] Roma, it's always great to see you and the Origami Risk team. Connect with Roma and Origami Risk online at LinkedIn and OrigamiRisk.com, in the Contact Us area on the website.

[23:34] Let's Return to the Conclusion of My Interview with RIMS Texas Keynote Speaker Major General (Ret.) Robert F. Whittle Jr.!

[23:44] What's the vibe at a Bob Whittle keynote? Bob focuses on the lessons he's learned over his career. A lot of the lessons are from mistakes that he has made, or vicariously from mistakes others have made.

[24:00] Bob's goal is to make it humorous with some anecdotes; people remember anecdotes. He plans for an enjoyable session. Bob feels that when you're speaking to an audience, it's a hostage crisis. You owe it to them to entertain them a bit while providing valuable information.

[24:34] Bob says it's not a hostage crisis if people are glad they went.

[24:44] At the end of his keynote, Bob takes questions from the audience. He says it's the most enjoyable part because it's a free flow of information.

[25:01] Bob has led troops in combat and peacekeeping missions across multiple continents. Bob says he learned a lot about cultural risk and adaptability in leadership. He says the Armed Forces learned a lot during that process, and the U.S. government did, as well.

[25:22] After major combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and moving into a stability effort, Bob says they learned about human terrain, the culture of the people. The culture can vary from place to place and village to village.

[25:58] An American isn't ever going to understand the cultures as well as the interpreters (many of whom had emigrated to the U.S. and had come back to interpret) and the NGOs in place. Have them help you learn the culture.

[26:34] Bob talks about how these experiences shaped his strategies. He became more of an active listener to gain situational awareness. To develop a relationship with an Afghan officer, you visit him at least three times and have tea with them.

[27:11] Bob speaks of vision. Afghanistan, for thousands of years, had not been a democracy. Are you going to make it a democracy in a year or even in one generation? You have to know the human terrain. What is the best governance for the people to make the country not a threat?

[27:55] Within the culture, how do you make that as benign as possible and effective, the way that they like to do it?

[28:17] Bob talks about decision-making under pressure. It is harder in some ways and easier in others than your regular decisions. You're not going to get to 100% of the information under pressure.

[28:33] You have to accelerate the decision-making. The more you know about your environment and the probability of different things happening, the more comfortable you can be with that.

[28:50] A leader has to stay as cool, calm, and collected as possible in that environment. Everyone who works for you or with you, whom you want to influence, is looking to you for how they should feel. How bad is it? If you can keep that posture, they're going to perform better.

[29:18] It's easier to do that when you're a leader because you know people are counting on you. If you focus on that, the cool calmness just comes.

[29:31] Bob was Commandant of the U.S. Army Engineers School. Bob talks about preparing the next U.S. Army Engineers. The key is training. If you know your job well and you've trained as much as possible, then you'll be more apt to take the right actions and be cool and calm.

[30:05] The Army does a great job of investing in training for its people. An Engineer Officer goes to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for seven months right after they're commissioned. They come back, four years later, for a year.

[30:19] They'll come back again as they get different promotions and constantly sharpen their edge. They are trained in every task that they're going to do, domestically in the U.S., or combat.

[30:37] The training is repeated so the officers will gain good instincts and be able to take action without having to think long and hard about it; at the same time, being able to realize that every situation is different; How do they need to make this decision?

[30:53] The U.S. Army Engineers School specifically teaches risk management. When the Army goes into a new nation for combat operations, they have to assess the bridges there. The bridges won't be in a U.S. database. A lot of the bridges are small. There may be many streams.

[31:15] Bridges over streams may be small, and the Army has huge tanks. The Army has float bridges that they assemble in streams. The speed of the river and the types of banks affect how much material those bridges can handle.

[31:51] They need engineers to go out there and evaluate the load classification for each bridge. When the Army went into Bosnia, they crossed the Sava River, which was in flood stage at the time. That takes a much longer bridge. It took a lot of ingenuity and more resources to cross.

[32:34] When it comes to risk management, it's important to look at all the different controls. For bridges, one control is that one vehicle crosses at a time. You don't need three tanks on the bridge. Engineers need to decide if a float bridge can handle two tanks or limit it to one.

[32:55] They could limit it to day crossing only, with people guiding the tank. There are all kinds of things to make sure they get right.

[33:04] Justin looks forward to hearing more about Bob's experience on August 6th at 11:00 a.m. at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2025 in San Antonio.

[33:17] Bob is a graduate with a Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, so a little Texas accent comes through. He loves Texas, and he got there as soon as he could.

[34:23] Special thanks again to Retired Major General Bob Whittle for joining us here on RIMScast. Visit RIMS.org/TexasRegional to see the full agenda and register. I've got a link to the opening keynote's RIMScast episode. Huw Edwards joined us recently to discuss his address.

[34:41] Huw will present "Your Insurance Policy for Success: Eight Mental Toughness Lessons I've Learned from Running 100 Miles through the Mountains." Be sure to check that out. We look forward to seeing you August 4th through the 6th in San Antonio, Texas!

[35:01] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.

[35:28] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.

[35:46] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.

[36:04] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.

[36:21] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.

[36:35] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[36:42] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!

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RIMS Texas Regional 2025 — August 3‒5 | Registration open.

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