Leadership Resources

Risk Taking

Merriam-Webster defines Risk as the “possibility of loss or injury” and just like the definition, many people believe that taking a risk is a bad thing. However, Risk taking has many benefits and can be very healthy for any person. An important thing to realize when evaluating whether or not a group should take a risk, is that risks are evaluated at different levels for different people. In other words, running for a student elected office may be terrifying for one person, and quite an easy thing to do for another. By realizing that people evaluate risk on different levels, leaders will be better able to encourage discussion before major decisions are made.

There are many benefits of risk taking including:

•  Learning and personal growth require taking risks

•  Risk taking is a hallmark of exceptional leadership

•  Willingness to take risk facilitates “thinking big”

•  The occasional (but inevitable) failure that accompanies risk builds character

By challenging what is, looking to what could be, and having a “healthy disregard for the impossible” risk takers are making a difference in their world and in that of those people around them. A risk taker challenges their comfort zone and becomes comfortable being uncomfortable.

There are several steps to effective risk taking which include:

•  Diagnosis

•  Identifying the risk

•  Clarifying the objectives you hope to meet by taking the risk

•  Evaluating your basic alternatives

•  Assessing your risk-taking tendencies

•  Planning and Preparation

•  Develop a strategy

•  Try to balance risk with reward

•  Implementation

•  Take risks constructively

•  Take action

•  Evaluate

Read More on how to effectively take risks ....

Keeping in mind that everything involves some kind of risk, from getting out of bed in the morning, to walking into a classroom of people you don't know. As a last thought, here is a quote from Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.”

Original Source Unknown – Adapted by Jessica Horton, LDS 170, NC State University, 2005