In risk-management-illustrated articles, you often find the banana peel. This shall suggest that it is dangerous, if you don't see it on the pavement you walk ...
Is risk equal to danger?
No, danger is one sided and risk is two sided: it creates opportunities and danger. This should make clear that risk management is not a necessary but productive appendage, or worse painful - not natural.
Optimizing risk for the best possible outcome makes a maximum positive contribution - and this requires to utilize specific mathematical calculations, not just instinct.
And, the banana peel at the pavement might be a danger, but you can make many things out of it: face masks, shoe polish, teeth whitener, water purifier, ....
Risk taking is a philosophy, but also a quantitative effort. But you need to combine: VaR might be the primary component of the process, but it needs to be backed up with back-, stress testing and scenario analysis, concentrating on dramatic external events ...
And it is explorative, constructive learning ... to, say, understand that there are still opportunities beyond the VaR limits.
This is why I have reservations when I see banana peel pictures illustrating risk management articles.
