It is impossible to write a book about the subject of capacity and avoid the topic of risk. Poet T. S. Eliot said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” How far are you willing to go? Are you prepared to test your limits?
Not everyone is a natural risk taker. But I have to admit, I’m pretty comfortable taking risks and pushing to see how far I can go. I like taking new territory. Right now at almost seventy I’m living at the highest risk level in my entire life. Many people tell me I’ve lost my mind. At times, I’m tempted to agree with them!
You may wonder why I say I’m living at a time of high risk. I’ll tell you. For twenty years, my nonprofit organization EQUIP has been training leaders around the world. In those years, we’ve trained over five million leaders. As we crossed into the millions of leaders, we also made it our goal to train leaders from every nation in the world. That’s 196 countries. And on June 26, 2015, we reached that milestone in Fiji, when several EQUIP team members and I trained a group of leaders from the small island nation of Kiribati. Twenty-five hundred people were there celebrating that significant event with us, and let me tell you, it was a joyful occasion.
That day could have been the crowning moment of my leadership life. As far as I know, no nonprofit organization in history had ever accomplished that task before. EQUIP was the first. I could have ridden off into the sunset after that. I could have—but I really couldn’t. As much as I enjoyed what we had accomplished, I knew that our celebration that day was not going to be our final accomplishment. I felt compelled to push farther, to risk more, and to see what we could achieve. I wanted these trained leaders around the world to take on a new challenge: to become intentional agents of transformation in their countries.
As I contemplated this new effort, I wondered, What would happen if we could actually do this? Should we dare even think about it? Was this too big of a dream? What are the chances we could actually pull this off? I had to face reality. The odds of helping leaders to be transformed so they could be catalysts for transformation in entire countries were very low. On the other hand, I had led high-risk ventures before. What I concluded was this: For me to lead this charge, I had to feel called. A work this big would be beyond me and my abilities. And it would not be for me. I would have to believe that God wanted me to do this for others. In the end, I had that sense of confidence in the calling.
Next, I had to be sure I wanted others to follow me. I was. I also concluded that I was comfortable with the possibility of setbacks, disappointments, bad surprises, failures, and even losses. These would not define me, nor would they detour me. I know who I am, and I would rather come up short attempting something big than to be successful at something small that wouldn’t make a difference.
The decision was made. My small army of transformational leaders and I would take on the high-risk mission of trying to help bring transformation into entire countries. And we would either do something significant, or fail trying. (If you want to get an idea about how we’re doing, go to http://iEQUIP.org.)
Perhaps you’re facing a risky challenge right now. Or you are considering taking on a high-risk project. Or maybe you desire to do something significant, and you sense that something big but risky is on the horizon. If so, I know how you are feeling, because I’ve been in your shoes.
On the other hand, maybe you’ve been risk averse your whole life, and you recognize how much it has held you back and limited your capacity. No matter what your circumstances are, the rest of this chapter can help you to make good decisions concerning risks. Here are some things you need to know that will help you to take more risks:
Businessman and author Max De Pree said that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. That’s also true for anyone striking out to take a big risk. When taking big risks, you can’t depend on hype or wishful thinking, because those things cannot withstand the heat of risk. You need to understand what you’re dealing with, look at the worst-case scenarios, and look reality dead in the eye.
That’s what I did after I decided I wanted to launch an international transformation initiative. Then I began to gather an army of people who were intrigued with the idea of being a part of a potential transformational movement. I knew that my first responsibility to them was to define the reality of this cause. As I said, I shared with them that the odds for success were very low. The journey would be uphill all the way. I felt certain it would cost more than we wanted to pay, take longer than we wanted to stay, and it would be harder to accomplish than any of us could imagine. But we would make the attempt anyway.
Perhaps I’m more prone to taking risks than some others because I have had a near-death experience. Nothing makes life more real than to almost lose it. In the words of Steve Jobs, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Death can come at any moment for any of us. We don’t have forever. The time we have to be all that we are meant to be and to do all that we have the potential to do is limited. How limited, we don’t know. That’s why we owe it to ourselves and those we love to be truly alive and authentic in each moment. That means facing reality and taking the risk anyway. That is the only legacy we can be proud to leave behind.
How do you look reality in the face when evaluating a risk? Ask yourself some questions:
• Who else has done it?
• How bad can it get?
• How good can it get?
• Is there room for error?
• Does the past say “yes”?
• Is there enough momentum to make it?
• Do I believe in myself?
• Do I believe in my team?
The more questions you ask and answer, the better prepared you are to weigh the risk and gauge whether the risk is smart or foolish.
Risk is rarely comfortable. It requires us to get out of our comfort zone. Yet that’s where we need to live when we’re risking big. How do you deal with that? For me, anything worthwhile that I’ve ever done initially scared me to death. First speech? Frightened beyond belief. First board meeting? Scared stiff. Conducting my first wedding? I almost fainted! I was never good the first time, and I was always scared on top of that. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t good.
After many times of being overcome by fear and worry, I knew I needed to develop a process to deal with fear, so I did. It didn’t cure my fear, but it tamed it enough for me to keep taking risks. It goes like this:
• Identification: Who am I? I am a person of worth attempting to do something worthwhile.
• Action: What will I do? Take action and do the right thing regardless of feelings.
• Emotion: How will I proceed? I will allow my actions to shape my feelings.
My discovery? Each time I acted with courage and did what was right rather than giving in to what I felt, my will overcame my fears. My fears have never completely left me, but they no longer control me.
I love the way author and writing guru Steven Pressfield says this: “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome.” Since you can’t defeat fear, you have to learn to deal with it. I call this becoming comfortable outside of your comfort zone.
To take the steps forward in the face of risk, you have to deal with your emotions and doubts. For me to continually succeed in high-risk environments and to model the right behavior to my team, I have to be continually comfortable being uncomfortable. How do I do this?
I begin by taking the focus off myself. I need always to keep in mind that life is not about me. I can’t worry about how I look to others. That was hard for me for many years. When I first started speaking publicly, I wore glasses to try to look more intelligent. I only looked stupid wearing them, because I didn’t need them. Hall of Fame baseball player Lou Brock said, “Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time!” I can’t be afraid of looking bad.
I’m naturally a very competitive person. I love winning and hate losing. And I used to keep score for everything. I avoided losses and focused heavily on increasing my wins. Not anymore. Instead of avoiding losses, I now learn from them. I ask, “What did I learn?” Why? Because we always learn more from our losses than from our wins—if we’re willing to look for the lesson. When you seek lessons more than you avoid losses, you become more comfortable with risk.
One of my heroes was Robert Schuller, the founder of the Crystal Cathedral. In his book Success Is Never Ending, Failure Is Never Final, he wrote, “You’ll start moving from ‘out’ to back ‘in’ when you start to dream again.”1 In other words, when you focus on your dreams, your heart is 100 percent in.
The statement I’m probably known for more than any other is this: everything rises and falls on leadership. That is never more true than during times of risk. The size of the leadership must be equal to the size of the risk. If you’re going to attempt something difficult, you need good leadership. You need to either provide it yourself or find a partner who can help you lead. And if you’re going to try something huge, you’ll need lots of leaders. Any great attempt without great leadership is destined to fizzle out.
There are times when I long to go back to my early leadership years. Back then, nobody knew me. Nobody cared what I was doing. There were few to no expectations of me. The small projects I was leading in the beginning allowed me to make my leadership mistakes anonymously. But today people are watching. More important, more people are depending on me to lead well. I don’t want to let them down.
If you are preparing to take a big risk, it may require every leadership skill you possess to accomplish it. Don’t take that lightly. Keep growing as a leader. The more you increase your leadership capacity, the more you increase your potential for risk capacity.
And if you’re already a leader, you also need to provide others with a pro-risk environment so that they’re willing to deal with their fears and take steps forward outside of their comfort zones. Dan Denison of IMD Business School says, “There is always a premium on being able to deal with the unknown. People will venture there if they feel they’ll be secure in doing it. It is a leader’s job to create that sense of security.”
While it’s fun to dream about the potential upside of any risky venture, the reality of it can make us want to yell “HELP” at the top of our lungs. The greater and more risky the venture, the more our need for help. And to be successful, you don’t just need help; you need the right kind of help.
When I started out in my career, I tended to do everything myself. As I grew in leadership, I started to recruit people onto my team, but I wanted to include everybody. And I wanted everybody to be happy. I was more of a poll taker than a risk taker. My problem wasn’t fear of failure; it was fear of what others might think about me. Being obsessed with being liked, I avoided taking risks for fear of looking bad if I failed.
My first step in correcting this problem came after a friend said to me, “Quit worrying about what other people are thinking. They’re not even looking at you!” I had to get over myself. And I had to value the vision more than I valued people’s opinions. When I made that change, it was a major step in my development. And it increased my capacity to risk and to achieve. It also made me more discerning when it came to the kind of people I recruited to help me.
Mass movements don’t begin with the masses. They always begin with a few. But if those few are the right people, there is the potential for a mass movement. What are the characteristics of the right people?
For years I’ve maintained that winners stretch to a challenge and whiners shrink from a challenge. When you cast vision for something big, it is both a uniter and divider. People of high capacity who like a challenge rally to you. Small people leave. The size of the vision determines the size of the person who signs up. Do you want to attract bigger people? Challenge them with this:
Wanted: Persons with high tolerance for pressure and a desire to make a difference. Reward: An exciting adventure that requires 100 percent effort and fulfillment at life’s end. Applications now being accepted.
If a person you want to recruit doesn’t get fired up by that, then you don’t want him or her on your team.
Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that’s less than the one you are capable of living.” I know there are people who believe that playing big is dangerous, but do you want to know what’s more dangerous? Never taking a risk. When you’re doing nothing, nothing good happens.
Years ago I came across a little poem that describes people who don’t want to take risks and as a result, play small their whole lives. It went like this:
There once was a man who never risked.
He never tried,
He never laughed,
He never cried,
Then one day, when he passed away,
His insurance was denied.
They said since he never really lived,
Then he never really died!
Wow. How sad. People who play big are totally different. If at first they do succeed, they try something harder. Though all high-impact players may not necessarily have a lot of things in common, they do have one thing: they are willing to take risks. My friend Bill Purvis once said at a conference my team hosted, “If you want some things you’ve never had before, you must be willing to do some things you’ve never done before.” As you look for people to join you in taking a big risk, you want people willing to do that, to try something new, even if it’s difficult.
When you’re taking big risks and attempting something difficult, you want people on your team who know themselves and are honest with themselves. They have to know what they’re capable of and know what the stakes are. And as a leader, you need to help make sure they know those things.
Recently I spoke on transformation to a large group of my certified coaches. It was right before we planned to leave for Paraguay. And I wanted to do something that would make them take a look at themselves and assess where they stood. So I talked about the differences between Moment Leaders and Movement Leaders. Take a look at the differences:
Moment Leaders ask, “How long will this take?”
Movement Leaders ask, “How far can I go?”
Moment Leaders think Great things can happen easily and quickly.
Movement Leaders think Everything worthwhile is uphill.
Moment Leaders lead with emotion and let it control them.
Movement Leaders lead with character and let it strengthen them.
Moment Leaders are bigger on the outside than on the inside.
Movement Leaders are bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Because so many of these coaches are people who want to accomplish big things, they connected with the vision of movement leadership, and by the time I was done speaking, they were on their feet cheering. They were ready to go! That’s why I love them. They want to make a difference. And they know that every great endeavor on the outside begins first on the inside. You cannot travel without until you have first traveled within.
Even if you’re not someone who owns a company, holds a leadership position, or leads some kind of team, you may still need help when you tackle a risk. Look for like-minded people who are willing to face challenges to assist you. It will greatly increase your risk capacity.
Writer Anaïs Nin said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” If you want to expand your capacity, and therefore your life, you need to be willing to take greater risks. You need to be willing to stand alone. You need to gather the courage to do what others might not do—not just for the sake of doing something bold and risky, but because you can see the potential reward.
What’s great about taking smart risks is that it not only expands your possibilities, but it also inspires other people to want to join you in your efforts. People follow courage. When someone is willing to stand alone in the beginning and face opposition, they can earn respect and credibility. Eventually, others see their courage and rally around them.
It’s been said that if you’re not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room. Risk is an important part of life. Publishing executive Walter Anderson asserts, “Our lives improve only when we take chances.”
So what are you going to do? Bruce Barton said, “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.” Are you willing to increase your risk capacity? Are you willing to fail doing something big? Are you willing to count lessons more than losses? Are you willing to model the way by becoming comfortable outside of your comfort zone?
These are no small things. But if you’re not willing to do them, you better become comfortable with only small things. Because you’ll accomplish big things only if you’re willing to take big risks. I hope you are.
1. How good are you at facing reality and assessing the odds when you prepare to take a risk? If you’re not especially good at it, who can you enlist to help you count the cost?
2. When you prepare to take a big risk, how much consideration do you normally give to leadership and the formation of a team to help you? Explain. How must you change to improve in this area?
3. Have you learned how to deal with the discomfort of being out of your comfort zone? Have you learned how to function in spite of your fear? Or does being in risky territory stop you? What must you do to grow in this area?