Founders are different. They are the ones that start businesses and enterprises. To them, risk is part of the deal. Risk is relative in their minds. It doesn’t guide them. It doesn’t drive them. It just figures into their calculus.
Webster defines risk as: “the possibility of loss or injury.” I don’t know about you, but I take risks every day by driving, eating out, walking my dog, and at my age, moving the wrong way. But it doesn’t stop me from living. I understand the risk, and mostly ignore it. Why? Because life is full of risk, and I’d rather live fully, than allow the possibility of risk or injury tamp me down. Fifty-two percent of car accidents occur within 5 miles from home; 77 percent occur within 15 miles or less from home. Would you drive further, or less often given those numbers?
Achievement and success are always accompanied by risk. Miscalculation of risk can mean failure. On the other hand, you can do the best analysis possible and still fail. But what is failure really? It’s an opportunity to learn, dust yourself off, get up, and do it again.
Most Founders fail before they succeed. Often, multiple times. As we consider risk at this moment in time, consider The Founder’s Mindset. Yeah, there’s risk. But there’s living too.