Have you read Seth’s marvelous blog “No way Out?”
Sometimes it’s easier to just leave or quit… or not engage in the first place. For the military, “no way out” refers to something that’s a huge gamble. Because big gambles mean there’s no way out. So we burn the boats and stay till we fail or succeed. But failure is, I suspect, more likely.
On the other hand, risk isn’t as bad as gamble. And calculated risks are actually usually pretty smart. In fact, sometimes the bigger risk – the ultimate dumb gamble – is not taking any risk.
Seth comments that the best approach could be learning something, toughing it out, engaging with the challenge. Because if you actually get through, “…you’ll be different. Better.”
Seth reminds us that “we always have a choice, but often, it’s a good idea to act as if we don’t.” Burn the boats. Take the gamble. Go for it.
And in my document “Planning for any future that could come along,” here’s what I write: Differentiating between risk and gamble…
- How do you create a shared understanding of risk and gamble within your nonprofit?
- What criteria can your nonprofit use to differentiate between risk and gamble?
- What is a good process to effectively manage risk and avoid a gamble?
- How does an organization identify the stop-loss moment?
