Risky Business: Learning from Tom Cruise (shocking, isn’t it?)

I don’t think you’ll argue when I assign the word “crazy” to Tom Cruise, but did you ever stop to think that if all of us had some of that same kind of “crazy”, we might be successful at our own risky business?

Of course, I’m talking about *legal* risks in business. You know–the ones we all face when we look at a new endeavor. The finances, the time, the location, the people, the software, any number of things come up on the list of “if”s “and”s “but”s and “maybe”s. Funny isn’t it, that when you start your own business–or make major changes at your current one—one of the first and foremost concerns on your mind is the amount of risk you’re taking. Rarely does the fact that we are stepping out there into  new realm that could make-or-break us escape our thinking. Somewhere in the back of our minds as we shake hands with our reverse interview-ee we are confident that we have no idea what we’re doing.

But as anyone who has started a business knows, sometimes perseverance brings freedom. And as the movie line goes, “Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.”

So as you look at making new decisions for your business, approach risks as obstacles, not road blocks. Don’t be afraid to ask people already where you want to be about how they got there and what they did to get there. Learn from their mistakes and listen to their advice on steps to take. Not everything about their journey will makes sense for your business, but some of their thoughts could help you turn those mountains back into molehills that are easily avoided or eliminated all together.

As Andre Malraux put it,

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not [that] 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.”