Taking Risk . . . Is it in YOU?

What is it about my traveling in April . . . I was delayed several hours today because a bird hit the plane and damaged some equipment (or was it the plane hit the bird, hmmm).

Someone once said "Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."

Bottom line: there are some people who like to take risks (just like riding on a rollercoaster) and some who dont like to take risks (and riding the merry-go-around is just fine). Neither is better than the other. However, I am one who likes to take risk. I want to be "in the game", give me the ball with seconds left on the clock, or up to bat with bases loaded or be the last person to take the penalty kick in futbol (okay that was just for my international friends). I want my blood moving and my heart pounding . . . my belief is that I dont want to watch others having all the fun! Life is short, my belief is that we are only here for a short time so live life to the fullest, whether work or play!

There is the old adage, no pain, no gain! You do not get better if you do not push yourself, so you need to be in a place that might be a little uncomfortable. As a leader, I tried to push staff to do a little more than they thought they would be able to . . . and you know what, they were successful and accomplished more than they thought was possible.

So, as a leader, identify specific behaviors that encourage risk taking and those that discourage it (there are those who benefit from the status quo, and that is not a good thing, as we need continuous innovation not just continuous improvement which is a very different way of thinking).

Second, it is okay to fail or make a mistake, just as long as it was not careless or repeated over again. Learn from mistakes, throughout my career, I learned more from failure than I had from successes, that might sound strange but it is so true and can point to those failures not as failures but as learning experiences. You should too!

Lastly, it is important to recognize and celebrate intelligent risk taking no matter the outcome. When I took over the information business at Mercer, it was only a small unit and was losing a tremendous amount of money. It was a career risk to take the global role, being in the US role, the business had tripled and was profitable and was performing well. However, I wanted a new challenge, a risk, and I decided to take the global role when it was offerred and thanks to many of the readers, the business grew exponentially and became very profitable. What if I had said, no, I am going to stay where I am and maintain my role . . . what would have happened? It was the same decision process that I looked at in determining to leave Mercer, same role 7 years, no other challenges, I needed to take a risk which I am doing now . . . and already beginning to enjoy this because my blood is flowing and my heart is pounding . . . and if this becomes a failure, that is okay because I am sure I will learn from this wonderful experience!

Be Young, Have Fun, Take a Risk!