You need to go after bigger goals
Why we need to face our own fear of loss, push out our boundaries and how we practically do that
Photo by Cristofer Jeschke on Unsplash
As we unwind lockdown in many countries around the world, it’s easiest to relapse into past behaviours and patterns of operating. Now is a good time to take on new development or new opportunities and thing bigger. We tend to be our own biggest enemy in making these steps. This article gives a few tips on how to navigate past our own fears.
Don’t give up before you have even tried
Within 7 hours of the 9/11 attacks, the US Government was confident that Al Qaeda was the perpetrator. Within eight days a handful of CIA agents were inserted by helicopter in groups of three into Afghanistan to meet with warlords who had been fighting the Taliban and convince them to work with the US. This picture (released from the CIA) shows one of the groups picking up $3m in cash that would be part of the payoff. Imagine if you were one of those people and you are on the ground, $3m in cash in your bag, and you hear the sound of the helicopter fading away as it returns to base, and you know there is no rescue plan. There’s only one way forward.
Leaving aside views on war in Afghanistan and success or failure strategically, the lesson I took from this is it is the people who take the risk to push out the edges are the people who will determine your ultimate growth.
- From defence to offence
- From analysis to action
- From doing it ourselves to collaborating with others
- To momentum over planning
- To prototyping over R&D
Good products, systems, processes and funding are all critical for success but it’s what playing field you are moving on that will determine the size of the prize. I regularly find that one of the biggest challenges of entrepreneurial leaders is (surprisingly) not taking enough risk:
- A good idea but finding it hard to commit time or money to it
- A good plan but not wanting to give up a secure source of income
- Dedicated to making it happen but struggling to make the bigger ask
- Getting it working but not pushing back out into uncomfortability
- Believing that if they try they may fail — even though they have not tried
I think we do this in our own lives as we age also. We start to build walls around our careers, our personal development, our goals, our relationships, our resources. If you don’t take risk post coronavirus, you will return to your pre-coronavirus state. Change requires taking risk — but it’s not risk that you are battling, it’s the fear of loss. Be aware that your brain magnifies the risks disproportionately.
Often the risk of something not working out is not nearly as high as we think, and the odds of it working out well are often far better. As Nobel Laureate and noted psychologist Daniel Kahneman found through years of research (which he details in Thinking, Fast and Slow), when we’re assessing risk, potential losses loom larger than potential gains. That is, we tend focus more on what might go wrong — what we might lose– than what might go right. What we focus on magnifies in our imagination, and it causes us to misjudge (and over-estimate) the likelihood of risks. — Forbes
If you want to see improvement, as a leader you need to take more personal risk and as an organisation, you need to take more risk. And yes, it’s uncomfortable — but it’s part of winning.
Now is a time to take more risk
Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash
There are multiple areas where fear of loss manifests itself and we need to take more risk.
- At a personal level. Where are you not taking the risk? In fitness? In finances? In personal development? In asking for help from a mentor? In starting a new project? In having a challenging conversation? In admitting you’re out of your depth and need help?
- In product development — think how crazy it was to invent a touch screen phone. Or a rocket booster that could land on earth after being used. Or the telephone. Or the aeroplane. Or a spaceship that can take you to Mars. Where are the things that you offer — a service or a product, just too stale, too standard, too dated? Where do you need to imagine and invent a better offering? By taking risk on product, you can open up new opportunities and re-engage your existing audience.
- In sales. If you don’t make the ask, the opportunities will not come your way. Where can you identify people that might buy your most expensive product or service and make a direct ask? Who is the person or organisation that you would want to have as a customer and why are you not asking them now? What’s the real downside from the ask?
- In fundraising. Often we can start from a position of it will never get funding. But you don’t know that! I don’t mean that everything that is thought of will get resourced — but if you can stop yourself from killing it before it starts, you may be surprised. So for your project that needs funding, who would you want as your A list of funders, your B list and your C list? How can you get to them and what is the narrative you will tell them to convince them on the project? What happens if they say yes?
- With your team — I read of a team this week that had no managers, unlimited vacation days, and employees got to choose what they worked on. There’s also the risk of adding to your team — the unknown, the risk that they might not fit culturally or may damage your business. But if you don’t add to your team, your growth will be stunted. Who do you need to promote? Move roles?
- And strategically. I’ve been in multiple conversations this year where people have talked of new opportunities to collaborate or partner or merge. Yet often those founder on a lack of desire for either side to take a risk or make a change. So partnering becomes how can you serve my vision, rather than what can we do together. Strategic partnership involves sacrifice and risk — but can lead to greater goals. Who can you partner up or form a joint venture or other type of collaboration to expand your playing field and raise your goals?
Where are you going to take more risk today, this week and this year?
Tools & tips for taking more risk
Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash
If you feel uncomfortable with this, that’s good as that’s exactly where you need to be. Here are some tools I use to take more risk:
Imagine — the first challenge is to get beyond the fear of loss and start thinking of the potential upside. I ask myself “what would I do if I could not fail” (HT: Tim Ferriss). I did this in the summer of 2019 and it was a revelation — you don’t have to do all of the things you write down but take five minutes and brainstorm. Look for two or three things that grab you most and go after them. One of mine a few years ago was to work remotely from overseas for a period, to experience a new culture and way of working. In 2015 I spent a month in Colorado with my family, working and holidaying and it was amazing.
Clarify — the second is to ensure you have a clear goal. So it’s not enough to say you want to learn to ski, you need to have a SMART goal. But even then, the fear of loss can easily creep back in. So I apply SMART along with Big Hairy Audacious Goals or BHAGs (as set out in Jim Collins’ book Built to Last). Last summer I decided I wanted to work on my fitness (I didn’t really do any regular form of meaningful exercise at that point). So my BHAG and SMART goals became to complete a Sprint Triathlon within the following twelve months.
Ask — even when we have a clear big goal, the socialising of it or the aski is the biggest challenge. We tend to believe that people will reject us, laugh at us and exclude us. Or at least I do. So the key is to believe in the art of the possible — what might happen if the person said yes? We all know that in sales or fundraising you mostly get rejections. But who would you want to be your personal mentor if you could ask anyone in the world? Why not ask them? Who would you want to fund your project, or partner with you or employ you? Who do you need or want help from and what is your ask? And if you get into a conversation with them — make sure you make the ask (this is a common failing, as the fear of loss creeps back in).
Push yourself into discomfort and take more risk. I think you’ll be surprised how much it pays off.
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