RISK FOR REWARD

Business is all about risk....good risk.

A good risk is one with a limited or understandable downside and a great upside. So HOW DO YOU LIMIT THE DOWNSIDE?

First you have to understand where you can lose, many companies I deal with do not realize the current exposures they have, let alone new exposures when undertaking a business action.

Sometimes business's get lucky and everything goes well. Sometimes it does not. Sometimes, most times, the results get buried and only the CFO knows too well the cost of a failed initiative, they hide money just for these occasions.

I have been at many presentations where a "great idea" is introduced and the "hockey stick" graph chart comes out showing how only profits and growth can come, but there is rarely an intelligent analysis of the risk and costs and how they will be mitigated.

Actually if most managers went a little further with their thought process and looked at these risks, they would also find ways to mitigate or eliminate the risk and still present their great idea. This idea will have a chance of getting past the CFO whispering to the President after the meeting as to why the idea has not been thought through well, and the idea dies.

You should not gamble with your career or company without doing a full job and conducting a risk analysis first, so you know the downside and how to limit it.

Ross McLean, Security Expert