Quotes About Risk

It's extremely difficult to find smart people willing to start useful projects. Because sometimes what you start doesn't work. The fact that it doesn't work every time should give you confidence, because it means you're doing something that frightens others.

The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success.

Change isn't made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later.

Anyone who says failure is not an option has also ruled out innovation.

It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It's uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It's uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle. When you identify the discomfort, you've found the place where a leader is needed.

This is an addictive pastime. You take no real risk, touch the world, and it responds. Repeat.

Delivering unique creativity is hardest of all, because not only do you have to have insight, but you also need to be passionate enough to risk the rejection that delivering a solution can bring. You must ship.

Extraordinary benefits also accrue to the tiny majority with the guts to quit early and refocus their efforts on something new.

If you're not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it's almost certain you're not reaching your potential as a leader.

It's all a risk. Always. That's not true, actually. The only exception: it's a certainty that there's risk. The safer you play your plans for the future, the riskier it actually is. That's because the world is certainly, definitely, and more than possibly changing.

just about every company forgot the lesson of the Cow. Instead of taking the money and using it to create a series of innovations that could lead to the next Cow (at a higher, bigger level), these companies took profits.

begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.

Commit to the frightening work of flying blind

Fear of criticism is a powerful deterrent because the criticism doesn't actually have to occur for the fear to set in. Watch a few people get criticized for being innovate, and it's pretty easy to convince yourself that the very same thing will happen to you if you're not careful.

It's more about a five- or ten- or fifteen-year process where you start finding your voice, and finally you begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.

The industrialist (your boss, perhaps) demands that everything be proven, efficient, and risk free. The artist seeks none of these. The value of art is in your willingness to stare down the risk and to embrace the void of possible failure.

Change is powerful, but change always comes with the possibility of failure as its partner. "This might not work" isn't merely something to be tolerated; it's something you must seek out.

When you work under the cloud of anxiety, the best strategy is to play it safe, because if (when!) it fails, you'll be blameless.

Education isn't a problem until it serves as a buffer rom the world and a refuge from the risk of failure.

Risk, to some, is a bad thing, because risk brings with it the possibility of failure. It might be only a temporary failure, but that doesn't matter so much if the very thought of it shuts you down. So, for some, risk comes to equal failure (take enough risks and sooner or later, you will fail). Risk is avoided because we've been trained to avoid failure.

Do you have enough money in the bank to make it if everything goes wrong? If you do, congratulations. Go run your business with focus and with confidence. Stick with the high road and do the things you need to realize your business plan. If not, don't despair. You need an alternate plan. A plan that allows you to spend a percent- age of your time each week on low-risk revenue sources. A way to bring in freelance income while you build your core business.

only a tiny portion of the audience is looking for the brand-new thing. Most people are waiting for the tested, the authenticated, and the proven.

if it scares you, it might be a good thing to try

The obvious winners are the mid-sized and smaller companies looking to increase market share. These are the companies that have nothing to lose, but more important, they realize that they have a lot to gain by changing the rules of the game.