I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about risk in business, and I thought everyone should hear this story.
My friend–who works for this company you know whose name I’m withholding until the end of the story because that’s the way mysterious, good stories go–was telling me about her very first project with this company.
She was helping to write a story, one that many of you probably know. It was her first for the company, and she was trying to get the whole story down perfectly right from the get-go before anyone did anything with it.
Her boss said to her, “Well, it would be easier to figure everything out before we begin. But our goal isn’t to get to the process easily or get everything right the first time. Our goal is to make the best [blank] we can.”
So they began, created it, messed a bunch of things up, got feedback from the right people and improved it.
My friend learned that wanting to do something cool or for the first time or to grow a business to heights you’ve never been to before comes equipped with risks. She also discovered she didn’t actually know what risk meant.
She didn’t know–and many of us don’t know either–that risk brings failure and mistakes.
And risks and mistakes are not only alright, they’re how we make things better, things that people want to buy from us.
Being a part of the success at her company comes with the requirement to take risks–just like your business does. And sometimes those risks just don’t work out–just like in your business.
Yet, she realized she’d only lose if she didn’t respond to the failed risks–just like you in your business.
When you accept that risk is a part of the environment we place ourselves in when we choose to run our own business, you’ll discover that risks and failures lead to growth and success when you respond to them.
My friend works for Pixar. The “project” was the very first Toy Story movie. Not bad.
We can look back now and realize what a great movie was born out of risk-taking coupled with failures. But at the time it felt like the same tightrope walk that you feel you’re on some days.
Real risk means real failures. Real failures–when we respond to them–lead to real growth and success.
Step up to a little risk. Don’t be afraid of it or feel everything has to be “perfect” before you can go. Embrace the failures it inevitability brings, and you’ll grow and thrive.
Go forth and do great things,
Martha Hanlon and Chris Williams