Risk Your Way to Success

In 1994, a young man, Jeff Bezos, had a gut feeling that the internet was going to be big and thought he could be part of it.

In July 1995 he launched Amazon.com to sell books online. It was an idea whose time had come because the business grew incredibly fast. Eighteen months later, Amazon.com had $16 million US in sales. He took the company public in 1997. In 1999 he began the process of adding more product areas. The growth has continued. It is now the world's biggest online retailer with three times as many sales as its nearest rival. In 2009, in the midst of the global economic crisis, Amazon.com increased its annual sales by 28% from the previous year with net sales of $24.51 billion.

Why am I telling you this? The courage to take risks is an important soft skill.

Amazing things can happen when we are prepared to take a risk and follow through. It's about trusting intuition and gut feelings. More importantly, it's about trusting ourselves. Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com not knowing whether it would succeed or not. There was no precedent.

It was Robert Ronstadt who discovered in his work that those who built successful businesses and careers had one unique thing about them - they had the courage and faith to launch their businesses, to take risks in advancing their careers, with no guarantees of success.

This is what risk taking is about - no guarantees of success. It doesn't mean, however, that the risk isn't calculated and well thought through.

What are the Big Career and Business Risks?

* Making a sea change.
* Transitioning to a new career.
* Going back to university and retraining.
* Moving interstate.
* Taking a position overseas.
* For women - starting a family.
* Starting your own business.
* Launching a new service or product range.
* Bringing in a new partner to your business.
* Taking out a large loan.

Taking Risks Day to Day in Your Career or Business.

* Approaching the CEO regarding a work issues that you are not happy about.
* Making a formal bullying claim against a work colleague.
* Negotiating a salary increase.
* Having a crucial conversation with a team member who is underperforming.
* Making a particular phone call where the outcome could be positive or negative.
* Dealing assertively with a difficult client or work colleague.

Soft Skills are as Important as Strategic Skills.

Some would argue that taking risks is more about developing strategic skills than developing interpersonal, communication and people skills, soft skills in other words. Strategic skills are important in implementation. Without highly developed soft skills, however, success is unlikely.

So what are these soft skills that are so important in taking risks?

They are the skills of self-management and self-mastery, those concerned with managing yourself.

* Overcoming the fear and anxiety so you can take the risk in the first place.
* Believing in and trusting yourself.
* Resilience to be able to bounce back from the inevitable set-backs that occur along the way.
* Handling other's disapproval and even derision.
* Continuing undaunted when no one believes in what you are doing.

This demands considerable self-discipline and focus. It also demands persistence and perseverance.

When You Fear Taking Risks, What Do You Do?

When you are challenged to take a risk, there is usually something in the "risk" that deep down really excites you. It is often something that you really would like, but dare not attempt to achieve, make happen or claim for yourself. There is a part of you that dares not dream that it may be possible. There is another part of you that says you would fail anyway.

1. Explore the risk from an emotional point of view.

There is no risk in doing that much (or maybe there is for some people!). If you don't, you are denying and suppressing something deep inside you that is very important to you. You are not even giving yourself the opportunity to see if it may be possible.

Ask yourself:

* Why is it a risk?
* What is the worst thing that could possibly happen if I took the risk and failed?
* How could I handle that in a resilient way and bounce back?
* What would happen to my life, however, if I took the risk and was successful?
* Does the possibility of success outweigh the risk of failure?

2. Inform yourself from a practical point of view.

* Gather all the information you can for and against this particular risk factor.
* Seek out people who can give you information that may allay your fears and concerns - someone who has done what you fear to do, another professional or business owner, a coach or mentor.
* Talk with objective outsiders as well as people who know you well.

3. List the pros and cons.

4. Step back for a while and let yourself process what you have worked through about the risk.

5. After you have given yourself time to consider the risk, make a decision - yes or no.

If you have moved through this process being open and honest with yourself, your "yes" or "no" will be confident and free from the fear and anxiety that was there at the beginning. You will know, without doubt, you have made the right decision for now. That doesn't mean that at some time in the future you may not revisit this. The risk content next time will be far less because of the work you have done this time.

If, however, having gone through this process, you are still anxious, worried and fearful, then it may be that there are "things" blocking you that will continue to create obstacles for you in achieving what you want for your life. You may find it very helpful to talk through with an objective third person who can help you discover and remove those blockages.

"I am frightened of taking risks, but have hopes and dreams that I'll never achieve unless I learn to overcome my fears. Where do I start?"

If you are asking this question, you are more than half way there. You know what you want and need to do and are asking for help and support to do it.

1. Start small.

Take small risks first because every time you take a risk you become more and more confident in yourself and less and less afraid of doing so. If you don't at first succeed, it's not so devastating if the risk is small.

For example, you may have met someone at a networking event. You would like to maintain contact, build a relationship and have this person as part of your professional network. You have been holding off making the phone call to invite him/her for a coffee because of the fear of rejection.

Take action - make the call.

If the person makes excuses and gives the impression he/she does not want to meet you, don't take it personally. Work through your feelings about it, let go and move on. If you don't, you accumulate more fear about taking risks in the future.