John Merkovsky is always looking for an answer to the same question: What if? As the global leader for Marsh Risk Consulting, Merkovsky spends his days analyzing risk and getting his clients to do the same. He looks at issues that range from supply chain management to product recalls to business continuity—in his role he’s “helping clients understand and respond to the things that can destroy value within their companies,” he says.

According to Merkovsky, many of the what ifs he asked years ago are now being answered—in the media. “If you read the headlines now, all you read about is product recall, quality issues, protecting patents and trade secrets. [Those were all] topics that were very hot as emerging risk issues a few years ago, issues we talked to our clients about, and now those issues are coming home as front page Wall Street Journal topics.”

But Merkovsky doesn’t want to be in the I-told-you-so position, he wants to help clients avoid a crisis. “We’ve organized ourselves so we can go to clients in advance, help them understand the risk that is built into their portfolios and into their supply chains, and put the preventative steps in place.” However, he knows an average client isn’t as diligent about risk prevention as he is, as he explains it often takes a crisis for a company to reach out to the consultancy.

And there was no crisis like 9/11 for Merkovsky, who worked at the World Trade Center when it was attacked. “I happened to be traveling, but a lot of my co-workers were not, and it’s absolutely proven to be a focus point in thinking through not just the business ramifications, but, in a much more holistic view, the impact of these types of events on short-term financial results, long-term financial results, regulatory changes, human issues and then the broader economy in general.”

Merkovsky’s big-picture thinking has been an asset to him, particularly in his participation on Marsh’s behalf in the World Economic Forum. In these sessions, he says, leaders prioritize risk issues and propose solutions.

But constantly trying to determine a potential pitfall requires an innovative mindset, Merkovsky says. “My view is that to run a successful consulting business, you’ve got to be innovative. Without innovation, you can’t attract the best talent, you can’t have the most value to your clients, you can’t build the build the best business model.”

For someone who is responsible for always thinking about what could go wrong, Merkovsky, surprisingly, has no problem taking risks in his personal life. “I am everything outdoors. I have 14- and 15-year-old boys; together we hike, mountain bike, rock climb, kayak—anything to be outdoors all time. At 45 years old, I’ve slept more in a tent in the last year than I have any other year in my life. It’s absolutely a cleansing of the mind and soul.”

Looking forward, Merkovsky says, he’s happy in his current role, and the only thing that could improve it would be to spend more time on the research end. “I get very excited about the research and the fundamental understanding of how the effective management of risk can have positive outcomes. My attention on research and my attention on the scholarly aspect of risk is something I see myself doing more of down the road, but that would be in addition to my business of running consulting here at Marsh.”