The Key to Being Fearless at Work

We all know them: the people at work who are playing to “not lose.” I once had a colleague sagely advise me that the key to longevity was to put in enormous effort to get the lowest possible budget approved, so that one could beat it and declare victory.

And we also know the others: those who are playing to win. Those are the ones who are disrupting industries, launching game-changing products and challenging the status quo, and their bosses. They are the ones who buy into the mantra that failure is simply another step on the way to success.

But this stance has its risks.

Here is my simple formula for taking career risk: I’ve always been very, very clear with myself on what my downside was if I failed. And I’ve actively decided whether I could stomach it. When I became Director of Research, the downside was that I would return to being an analyst, and likely be a bit embarrassed. When I was asked to run Smith Barney, it was that I would fall on my face publicly, be fired and get some snarky press. At Smith Barney we launched a program to significantly increase our Advisors’ revenues, called “March to a Million” through new product and process innovations; the downside was that we would end up at something like $975,000 instead, and I would have to explain why we fell short.

For me, those downsides were all acceptable risks. The $975,000 was so far ahead of where the business otherwise was, the team and I were willing to go out on the limb to stretch ourselves. And the career opportunities I have had were worth the career risk they entailed, by my calculus. But go figure: the risk of getting publicly fired and snarky press isn’t for everyone. (I also fully recognize that my having a husband who works gave me a lot more freedom to risk failure than many have.)

As for the guy putting in his muted budget, he wasn’t irrational. That was how his company’s reward system was set up. And today he’s still in the same job, still playing the game the same way.

(Photo: Flickr, Graeme MacLean)