Greg's Right FIT #512 – This week: Risk, Decision making, Entertainment

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . starting next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Managing Risk
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Managing Risk

• As strategic planning season comes to a close, take time at your retreat to discuss risks. It doesn't take much time, but it is often the most worthwhile hour spent together, especially with busy teams in remote locations who rarely get to see one another. Brainstorm a list of risks and talk about them.
• The most effective way to mitigate risks is with questions. The right questions uncover hidden pitfalls, promote healthy discussion, and in turn, stimulate growth. Exchanging ideas builds trust and helps teams build momentum.
• Consider your co-worker's professional risk tendencies. Sales: ok with ambiguity; accounting: needs accurate numbers; in-house counsel: minimize risk; operations: wants background. Consider these tendencies when making plans for 2026. Custom fit how you frame risk mitigation discussions.
• The easiest way to manage risk in a new purchase is to invest/pay less. "We'll just give it a try." If you're the seller, deal with it by focusing on leading indicators versus outcomes. "What will let us know we're on track?"

Being Human – Making the right decision

“Decision making is easy when your values are clear.”– Roy Disney

In my sales and marketing strategy work, I focus on three areas. Describing a clear target/destination, how to make decisions in line with that strategy, and troubleshooting the execution. Which one do you think we get bogged down in the most?

If you guessed making decisions in line with target/destination, you win.

I have a few opinions for why this is, and tops is the fear of making the wrong decision and exposing ourselves and our company to harm or loss. It's not a crippling fear I'm describing, more of a nagging concern that slows momentum.

Makes sense to me. I think it's natural. It's human.

The way I help is working through the process of identifying how you work with this fear. Then using the same strategies to help your people work with it.

One, like most problem solving, we try to figure out what's at the root of it. Is it the fear of making a mistake? Is it ego? Often, just acknowledging the root of the indecision allows for action.

Two, use a simple heuristic tool for quantifying the risk in the decision. Like a number line with "catastrophic unrecoverable failure" on one end, and "life altering fame and riches" on the other. Using numbers is powerful. For example, years ago, Disney figured out that a quantified wait time in line was easier for customers to deal with than an undefined wait time. Regardless of the length of time. Our brains like to work with specificity. Show your team how you want them to quantify decision risk. This will vary by industry and company. For instance, the bank has a different risk profile than the apparel start-up.

Three, identify boundaries. In sales, there is an overemphasis on outcomes. You can't change that, but you can change the boundaries you want your people to use in getting there. In my book, The Human Being's Guide to Business Growth, I use a football field graphic for this. Naming the boundaries (like Legal, Budget, etc.) then discussing what is "inbounds" and "out-of-bounds" takes the risk out of decision making.

Minimize the fear of making a bad decision by naming it, and claiming it. Keep keep your people moving.

Random Stuff

"Everything is terrible, and literature is glorious! Spend more time with the glorious thing." – Andrew Sean Greer

We see a lot of movies. When my lovely bride and I were a-courtin' it wasn't uncommon to turn date night into a double feature. We'd watch then talk about what we just watched. It was a simpler time. We didn't have the world's knowledge at our fingertips, nor did we have the opinions of every Tom-Dick-and-Harry at a glance. I'm guessing we had amazing insights, because we're brilliant conversationalists, but have to assume we were off base from time to time.

Our local movie theater, Film Streams, calls itself a place for the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. This means at times when you go to a movie an expert will tell you a little about the film before it shows. Sometimes there's a panel discussion after. Once in a while the actual director presents. It's fun to hear about the context and the technical aspects of film. When we don't have that, I find myself on YouTube or looking for podcasts with director/actor/critic reviews to learn more about what I just watched.

Now that I'm reading more fiction, I'm doing the same thing. I read a book, talk to people about it, then look for author interviews. As you might imagine, it's a total waste of time! But I can't stop.

One time I was watching a pre-game show for NFL football. As the pregame show ended, before the first game started, the announcer, Chris Berman, said something like, "Thanks for watching two hours of us talking about what you're about to watch. Our research says you'll now watch it, and then join us again after the game to listen to us talk about what we just watched for a couple of hours. See you after the games." I'd never felt so seen! So exposed. I was like, oh man! I just watched you for two hours, I'll watch 6 hours of games, and then come back for two more hours of chit-chat. What he missed was that I would talk about those games over breaks and lunches all week long too. Everyone I hung out with was doing the same thing, I just hadn't noticed. When he called me out, I wanted to change.

The problem is, when you try to do something different than your peer group, conversations in the peer group get tougher. Consuming the same culture makes it easier for the group to communicate. The easier it is to get things done. It's the advantage humans have as a species, right? The ability to coordinate.

If you're still reading, you may be wondering where this is going.

Well, after reading a work of fiction, in my wanderings on the interwebs, I read what I can only describe as a disturbing article in Harper's magazine about gooning. I am shook, and sadly, highly amused. I'd love to talk about it, but, I won't lie. I'll be concerned if you already know about it. The internet is breaking our brains (self included) and this article reminded me of it. I recently heard an author say, "Everything is terrible, and literature is glorious! Spend more time with the glorious thing." He's right. I need to waste my time with movies, books, and football versus that terribleness. Good gracious.

Too late though. It's in my brain somewhere and will probably pop out at some inopportune time. Consider yourself warned.