Risk-taking and how to deal with risks are the topics of an upcoming ATW Silicon Valley meeting (Thursday, 1/25/2006). In my day-in and day-out life, I don’t usually think consciously about risk, although I suppose that has a lot to do with the fact that I feel pretty safe. But when you stop to think about it, we deal with risk many times a day. Little things like should I really walk downtown after dark? If I take 101 to work at the height of rush hour, will I get there on time?
Lately I’ve been thinking about risk and career more. Mostly because I’m ready to do something new with my life. Like working on a presidential campaign in a staff capacity. Or spending the summer in Italy (doing I don’t know what, but I really like Italy).
According to the write-up for Thursday’s ATW meeting, “Risks are inherent to any worthwhile endeavor, but how you deal with them determines if you’re successful or not.” So I guess not taking risk generally translates to less chance of success. Scary thought, particularly if you’re not a risk taker!
The meeting is at Intuit in Mountain View. For more information, check out the ATW Silicon Valley website: http://www.atwinternational.org/chapters/silicon_valley/upcoming_events.aspx
The “Women and Risk Taking” ATW meeting offered constructive guidance andd exercises for women and men seeking to make changes in their personal or professional lives. A balanced viewpoint, interactive exercises, and post meeting follow up analysis offered an opportinuty to participate on a group, small-team, and individual basis. Informative and useful!
Dee McCrorey, founder of http://www.RiskTakingForSuccess.com is a firecracker of a woman and the paradigm of risk taking herself. Last week at Intuit she led a group of 100 or so women and some men (risk takers themselves!) through a discussion and dissection of the concept of risk taking.
It seems we all have comfortable “grooves” we live in as a means to control our environment and shelter our essential vulnerability. The real risk, paradoxically, is that playing it safe won’t keep us safe. The danger is that when we don’t proactively venture out of our groove-ruts, our risk taking muscles get flabby. When change or opportunity comes along, we will be unprepared at best.
The good news is that we can exercise our risk taking muscles, just like going to the gym, and we will be more confident to take on new risks proactively. Dee asked us to rate ourselves on the risk taking spectrum:
• Are you a “saboteur,” a person wedded to the status quo?
• Are you an “avoider,” someone who runs away from risks?
• Are you a “skeptic,” a fence-straddler who needs more data before deciding?
• Are you an “adopter,” someone who proactively works the risk taking muscle?
• Are you a “responsible risk taker,” someone who is mindful of the up and downstream consequences?
• Or, are you a “maverick,” in this description, one who prefers to go it alone, to heck with the downstream consequences?
I pondered this and saw myself taking on different risk profiles depending on the situation. In business as a coach and client advocate, I don’t like being constrained by corporate politics, so I may be perceived as being more of a maverick. In more mundane circumstances, like ordering off a menu, I’m more of a fence-straddler to my husband’s endless dismay. As I get older, I think I’m becoming more of a responsible risk taker: the softer side of maverick and the quicker-to-decide-side of skeptic.
So how do you proactively move from one profile up the risk taking spectrum? The key is creating the right environment:
• Surround yourself with supportive people
• Know what your goals are
• Understand your expectations
• Be aware of your beliefs that underlie your assumptions and expectations
• Try to be more comfortable with uncertain outcomes
When the event ended I watched a young woman approach a successful and experienced entrepreneur. The younger woman was direct and polite. She asked the entrepreneur if she would consider mentoring her; that she admired her and believed their common cultural bond would be a great asset to her. I was not surprised to hear the entrepreneur agree to meet with this bold young woman. After all, what did either really have to lose by stretching out of their own grooves? It seems to me that the bigger risk might have been not forging this connection.