In business there are many situations where taking risks separates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones. This most often arises in the area of legal risks. Taking on liability in a contract, even though your lawyer advises against it. Accepting risky work, even though the potential for liability is high. Terminating employees, even though there is potential for unwarranted employment claims. The risks of these unknown and unchartered waters with worth it if, once taken, the outcome is beneficial to your business. Any lawyer can tell you why not to take certain business risks, but a good lawyer tells you what those risks are and appreciates the upside to your business in taking those risks.
Andre Malraux said "[o] ften the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act."
This recently became abundantly clear to me in a personal endeavor. My wife and I recently completed an Adventure Race called the Spartan Race. This was an eight mile, eighteen obstacle course race. Prior to committing to do this race, I knew that I had never run eight straight miles and I had no idea what the obstacles in the race were. I only knew that the race was challenging even to the most experienced athletes.
With little information or experience, I took the risk. I prepared to the best of my ability and trained for the unknown. I refused to listen to my own doubt and the doubts of others. I refused to do what was natural to me - go to the gym and exercise the way everyone else does. The outcome, my wife and I completed the race and have a more intense confidence and drive to challenge ourselves physically. We climbed twenty foot cargo ropes and twelve foot walls, carried boulders, rappelled bridges, swam the ocean in full running gear (sneakers and all), crawled in mud under barbed wire, and ran though a forest with no end in sight. The end result, I feel like I am a much more productive person now than I was before taking the risk.
This risk in life translates to risks in business and vice versa. Don't listen to naysayers, especially your lawyer. Your lawyer should be your coach to encourage and prepare you for your business risks.
