February 13, 2009 at 10:10 am
Was there ever a "long-term, perpetual entity"? On the other hand every major profitable idea came about by taking risks. What may appear as a risky move may in fact save an entire company, sometimes an entire industry. In such cases, not taking that risk is risky in the long-run. The choice is not between risk and no risk. It's between risks that are worth trying now versus risks that we can probably wait until a more opportune time to try. In other words, if I see a sense of perpetuity in an organization, then I start worrying.
February 13, 2009 at 10:26 am
While I appreciate both mindsets, risk-taking and risk-avoiding, I believe that the two are not - and should not - be mutually exclusive. To use the naval analogy, what qualifies as the appropriate leadership style in peace-time operations will get everyone killed during the turbulence of war. The best business leader is the one who accurately assesses which environment their organization is facing and acts (or doesn’t act as the case may be) decisively according to the coming challenges.
To draw this into real-time operations, under the current indecisive and indiscriminant orchestrations of the newly seated Federal government, business leaders haven’t the slightest clue what may be coming down the pike to rock their world in their respective market segments. As such, no one is hiring, expanding – risking anything. It would be reprehensibly foolish to do so. As in war, survival is the first line of business because if you’re not there you can’t contribute to the effort. So today’s wise business titans are tightening the belts and looking for unique opportunities which don’t require them to risk their hard-won capital.
February 13, 2009 at 11:03 am
In my prior company, we had a leadership offsite where we did the personality tests that categorize people into 4 quadrants of personality -- Myers-Briggs style. The eye opener for me was the different amounts of information that each trait must have to make a decision. The "best" leaders were those that could make a decision with only 1-2 pieces of information -- I require eight or so. :Whistling:
This would tend to support the old adage of surrounding yourself with the best as those advisors would have a lot of power.
I think that being able to make the "snap" decisions is paramount to having a nimble company that can move quickly to capture new market share. You might make some mistakes, but you will also make those paradigm-changing decisions that mean the difference between a Netscape and a Google.
Cheers!
February 13, 2009 at 11:51 am
This is a difference between Staff and Line employees...DBAs are staff and are paid a large percentage of the time to keep things running. Line employees, like sales, ceo's etc. will see many more opportunities to be aggessive risk takers. It also depends on the company...if the company is an established cash cow with no growth plans, then obviously very few risks will be taken. If the company is in growth mode, then many risks will be taken....I personally would want a very conservative minded DBA if I were a business owner.....
February 13, 2009 at 2:48 pm
A leader ought to be someone who knows when to take risks and when not to. Risks have their time and place. It seems to me that knowing that is the key.
One also has to have a system in place to identify if either approach is working and to change course appropriately.
I mostly like working for risk-takers unless the risk-taking is unbridled and wreckless.
February 13, 2009 at 7:40 pm
The term "don't want to rock the boat" is frequently practiced at all levels of management in a large number corporations that I've been exposed to. They should practice what I have framed in my office, instead... "Before you can think outside the box, you must first realize.... you're in a box!"
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
February 13, 2009 at 10:14 pm
No risk, no adventure/gain. Risk causes loss. But loss is kind of gain.
From time to time the leader has to make a change even it is risky. I personally prefer this happening earlier than late. Risky leader foresees and thrives from the change. Conservative leader may make a change until they have to.
This makes me think about Proactive leader/DBA and Reactive leader/DBA.
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