So what if that risk manager has Asperger's?
Nassim Taleb, of Black Swan fame, appears to have got into trouble for implying that people with Asperger's Syndrome shouldn't be employed as risk managers.
In Fooled By Randomness, Taleb suggests that people with the syndrome suffer from a kind of future blindness which inhibits their ability to judge risk properly.
Taleb appears to have fallen foul of Asperger's sufferers, because as Paul Kedrosky points out, he has felt the need to defend himself in an update on his site.
'Note that the very same people who attack me, on grounds of political correctness, for discussing Asperger as a condition not compatible with risk-bearing, and its dangers to society, would be opposed to using a person with highly impaired eyesight as the driver of a school bus. All I am saying is that just as I read Milton, Homer, Taha Husain, and Borges (who were blind) but would prefer to not have them drive me on the A-4 motorway, I elect to use tools made by engineers but
prefer to have society's risks managed by someone who is not affected
with risk-blindness.
Asperger's sufferers are generally considered to be disproportionately represented among the quant community. So should recruiters screen for the syndrome before employing people?
No. This would be discrimination on the grounds of disability, says employment lawyer Ronnie Fox.
"Where there's a genuine occupational requirement, like sight for a bus driver, discrimination against people without the requirement (eg. Blind bus drivers) is justified," says Fox. "In this case, it's a medical question. Not all Asperger's sufferers will be unable to assess risk, it's a question of degree."
