This is pretty messed up. According to This story, a couple of guys in Florida have been attacking the homeless with baseball bats. They’ve done it three times, killing the victim in one attack.

Before Thursday the homeless were invisible nomads, sleeping in our parks, under our bridges, on our city benches and in front of our public institutions.

We didn’t have to see them because we were too busy enjoying a good night’s rest, and knew they would be gone by morning.

Then we woke up and saw the shocking video tape of young males beating a homeless man mercilessly with bats in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Two other homeless men were savaged within hours of that attack. One of them, Norris Gaynor, 45, died. The identities of the two injured men were not released by police Thursday.

I don’t normally think of homeless people as Risk Managers, but they are. They may not have formal terminology or an awareness of it, but they definitely recognize the concepts of Vulnerability, Threats and Safeguards.

Vulnerability while asleep is a common problem for everyone. Most of us mitigate the risk by locking our doors at night. The homeless don’t have that option, so they adop different mitigation strategies.

Nearby a man who would only identify himself as Ken C. rested near his rusted bike on patch of grass. He said he never sleeps with his back to the streets. While some people try to sleep in the safer suburbs, he needs to be in downtown Fort Lauderdale for his daily activities. So he just takes his chances.

“You can’t get scared out here,” he said. “I’m a light sleeper anyway. I can hear people walking on concrete.”

Some sleep in areas like the suburbs where the likelihood of being attacked is lower. Some count on physical positioning or the ability to hear someone approaching. Managing the risks of homelessness is seems to a common topic of conversation among the homeless.

Compare that to my day-to-day. The only time I ever see this degree or level of honesty about risk in the business world is when I’m discussing SOX with the guy will wear the orange jumpsuit if he gets it wrong.