A Man, His Motorcycyle, And His Pesky Friends

A few friends and colleagues had been nagging me to post a picture of my Harley on Facebook. I really love Facebook, though it is amusing how demanding friends can be! I posted a few pictures, then it happened. They turned on me! In one picture I was riding without a helmet. Ohio is one of the last states to allow motorcyclists the freedom to choose whether or not they wear a helmet. A few well meaning friends saw the picture and immediately chimed in about how I need to wear a helmet to protect my brain cells! I reminded them that I really don't have many brain cells, but they were persistent. I started to think about it and saw an interesting leadership insight, two actually.

First, everyone has a different tolerance for risk. Some people are afraid to get on a motorcycle under any conditions. Others will ride but only if they are wearing a full face helm, gloves, boots and lots of leather clothing. Others will ride with jeans, boots and good eyewear. Still others will ride in shorts and flip-flops with no shirt on. Morons! No, just kidding. See, that's the point. Everyone has a different tolerance for risk. It is very important to note that the more a given scenario carries risk, the fewer the number of people interested. Thus more motorcyclists wear a helmet and some leather and very few ride around in flip-flops.

In your organizational life this line of thinking has very real implications. Leadership is first and foremost about successfully navigating innovation and change. Innovation and change imply plenty of risk! It does not matter whether you're talking about developing a new product, implementing a new process improvement or partnering with a new organization. The individuals in charge of initiating, developing and implementing the change take on real risk. Not the financial or statistical kind, but the reputational and psychological kind. They risk looking bad if things go wrong, straining relationships, etc. Your mission as a leader is to harness this array of people - all of whom have a different tolerance for risk! You have to sense the people who feel reluctant and coax them to walk further out on the limb. You must identify the overly eager risk lovers and tame them without putting out the fire in their belly. Good luck!

Next, not only do people have different characteristic levels of risk propensity, but when we put them in groups, they begin to act really weird. For some folks this means becoming more risk averse. They simply don't want to have others shoulder the same level of risk they are willing to shoulder. Interestingly, others will become less risk averse and more willing to do something audacious simply because they have a team with whom to share the risk. Don't assume you know whether the collective willingness to take risks has gone up or down - talk to the group about it!

Another insight is that people will often accept and promote fairly arbitrary standards for risk. In the case of the motorcycle, most will say (as if it is truly a "correct" position to take) that wearing a helmet will suffice. Riding a two wheeled machine at high speeds is ridiculously dangerous. Wearing a helmet statistically helps, yes, but to suggest that it now makes riding particularly "safe" is completely ridiculous. The point is that when a mere idea or position on an issue gains traction and becomes embraced by larger and larger groups, thinking surrounding the issue becomes quite rigid and self reinforcing, no matter how bad the logic.

Inside organizations, this is one of the prime reasons we see so much unimpressive incremental innovation as opposed to breakthrough radical innovation. Do we really need another line extension for our coffee products? Say, let's try blueberry muffin flavored coffee! That makes line extension #394. Inspiring. Maybe not, but it is logical in many ways. These little moves become widely acknowledged as lower risk (translated: higher probability of success). Trouble is, the success, though more assured, is small. Pop quiz, which do you prefer: an 85% chance of gaining .05% additional market share or a 50% chance of gaining 15% additional market share? There is no perfect answer, though I can tell you one thing. If you take the first choice too often, you'll become mediocre in no time. The question then becomes one of frequency. How often do you strive for the big win?

Thanks to my pesky friends for stirring up these ideas!

Dr. Dewett is a nationally recognized leadership expert, professor, author, professional speaker and consultant specializing in all aspects of organizational life. As quoted in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, CNN, the Chicago Tribune, MSNBC and elsewhere. He is the author of Leadership Redefined. Podcasts, blog, free newsletter and more at http://www.drdewett.com Copyright 2009 TVA Inc.

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