This publication is the third in a series of guides and tool-kits from the Tomorrow’s Good Governance Forum for use by chairmen, boards and advisors, to help achieve practical change. Risk management is high on the agenda of boards but boards may be blind to some key risks or do not understand them as deeply as perhaps they should. There has been a step change in the focus on risk by boards in the last few years but, with an ever more complex business environment coupled with increasing expectations of corporate behaviour, we believe the board’s risk agenda still needs to evolve. There is powerful evidence to suggest that there is a serious gap in the way that many boards identify and address significant risk issues. New research points the way forward for boards to achieve a greater understanding and control over strategically important risk exposures to achieve greater resilience as an organisation. It has identified a clear leadership role for the board in determining a strategy towards risk which harnesses the power of the totality of expertise and knowledge within the organisation to support the board and to keep it informed.