Monday Motivation: Reconnect with Risk

photo credit: Furryscaly

Often when we talk about risk in the business world, it’s a Bad Thing. As in “minimizing risk.” “Managing risk.” And so on.

And sure, when you have an idea where you want to go and how you want to get there, risk is anything that can keep your plans from succeeding.

But let’s be honest: in our personal lives, risk can be kind of fun, too. Risk that isn’t out of proportion with potential reward is what makes life fun.

So why aren’t we more excited about taking risks in business? Why isn’t there a “risk advocate” instead of a “risk manager”?

I suppose it’s because predictability is key to efficiency and we think of efficiency and all kinds of other attributes like profitability and scalability as being nearly the same. In truth, they’re not. They may well relate, and there may be strong correlations between companies that have predictable results and those that are profitable, but there are some big, profitable companies that have taken some pretty huge risks, too.

But I’m not even advocating huge risks. I know people’s jobs can be jeopardized by bad decisions. But even little everyday risks can be rewarding. Like answering your phone when you don’t know who’s calling.

Sure, when you’re deep in the process of meeting a big deadline, it can be beneficial to tune out things like phone calls, emails, and so on. But when you emerge, it may be time to reconnect with the outside world.

The benefits that can come from an unexpected connection with a sales prospect, an unsolicited job candidate, or even someone who called the wrong extension are too random to predict, but they do happen.

We don’t often get to have serendipity in our business lives, because we don’t often allow ourselves the unpredictability.

This week, why not take a small risk or two, and see what happens?

Happy Monday!