I’ve been captivated by the first two episodes of The Critical Path, a new 5by5 podcast featuring Horace Dediu, founder and managing director of Asymco, and of course the highest of high fidelity podcasters, Dan Benjamin.

The second episode of The Critical Path covers two areas I’m very much interested in: the very innovative and fast-paced mobile tech sector and the business of risk management. For me, it’s an tasty cocktail of personal and professional interests all in one spot.

After listening to Horace’s well-articulated thoughts on the rapid disruption caused by the iPhone when it jumped out of an iPod-shaped trojan horse in 2007, it’s clear to me that all technology companies who are vulnerable to change need to employ really good risk managers.

It’s just not enough to make great things. You have to make them at the right time, in the right climate. And if you’re really good, you can favorably affect the climate ahead of your product release, as Apple has. If you are fortunate and clever enough to be successful, there's not much time to celebrate either; disruptive change is always just around the corner. Spot it before others, and you keep winning.

I spend a good bit of my day trying to assess risk in the insurance sector. To me, good risk management is not about trying to predict the future. It’s about understanding a possible range of outcomes that might occur and using that information to stay in an agile and opportunity-seeking position.

The number of opportunities for enterprise risk management pros in the mobile tech sector are likely to be huge. Products will come and go, but change is staying put.