Competence is not a system—and memory is not resilience Ask an SME owner how operational risks are managed, and a familiar answer appears with quiet confidence: “We’re fine. My people are experienced.” It sounds reassuring. It is also one of the most fragile assumptions a business can make. Experience is valuable. It is not a control. Treating it as one is how organisations drift into avoidable failure—slowly, invisibly, and usually without warning. Experience lives in people