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To embrace risk means to move into a situation that involves exposure to danger. In the case of an FBI investigation, it could mean a drawn weapon. For entrepreneurs, it could mean how to challenge the competition or start a new business. For family members, it could mean how to tell Uncle Herbert that his racist rants are not welcome.
Like many others, I tend to fear what I don’t understand. I have never liked to take risks and I bet most of you don’t either. But the reality is this: if we want to break out of the pack, we’ve got to make ourselves visible, and visibility and risk often go hand-in-hand.
Our ability to achieve goals is related to how we embrace risk in the sticky areas of our life, not just the easy ones. When we engage in any action where the outcome is unknown, we take a risk but we become smarter at it when we learn how to analyze and assess the situation. We learn at an early age that some risks are worth it, while others are not. The more competent and capable we are at making those distinctions, the more successful we will become.
Intelligent risk-taking is important as we start a new business but equally important as we grow our network of contacts or confront family members with offensive behavior. Our ability to make our own luck is closely woven into our ability to be smart about the way we embrace risk, no…
