When it comes business, and well … actually in general, women have a tendency to not take enough risks to get to where they want to be. This ultimately becomes a problem because in order to succeed in business and in a career, you need to take a few risks every now and then — whether they are small or big, a success or failure.
Why you should learn to take risks
Taking risks can you teach you some valuable life lessons. There’s no success without risk, despite whole sections of business activity being focused on risk assessment and risk mitigation. As a result of the economic crisis, four out of five medium-sized companies rely on effective risk management.
The early, systematic identification, assessment and tracking of risks is very important to them. Only a minority of 28 percent are satisfied with the risk management in their own company, according to a study by the auditing and consulting company PwC. 70 percent of those surveyed want to improve their risk identification and assessment as well as the avoidance and reduction of risks.
Risks in business can certainly be rewarding but only when they’re calculated. Online players know this and look for the fastest withdrawal online casino Canada has to offer, like those found here.
And entrepreneurs who have had decent success in business know it too. The incredibly hard work that needs doing must also be balanced with its share of risk, or one will never put themselves in the position to reap great rewards.
This is all good in theory, but when it comes to women in business, who statistically take fewer risks than men, should they throw a little more caution to the wind? Or are the stats not taking into account the fact that women’s risks are more calculated and therefore make more successful decisions due to more thought? And there lies the conundrum; how much risk should be left in the decision before you shouldn’t take it?
The statistics
There’s plenty of numbers that have been thrown around on the subject these last few years. Like this article from Harvard Business Review that has men taking more risks when stressed compared to the opposite for women. Of course, our brains operate a little differently, but when it comes to business, which is the better approach?
Statistically, men are more likely to make the jump from employee to the captain of their ship, and in many societies, that gap is huge. But what about the stats on how many men fail in their entrepreneurship? If women take a more calculated risk, as we already mentioned, then just because the jump is taken doesn’t mean it was the right choice.
From an anthropology point of view, if you look at it, women have the DNA and social responsibility on their shoulders to carry the family burden, while men are the “hunters” who need to take risks to bring back the food. Of course, this is no longer the case as the gender roles are more equal, and you don’t need to fight wild animals to feed your family today. But it’s still one of our basic instincts, programmed deep in our brains.
And this will often influence their opportunity to make the jump in the first place, which could be a big factor when you look at the percentages of female entrepreneurs.
The reality
So, men take more risks. You only had to spend 10 minutes at a playground to work that one out. Men also end up with more injuries and hospital visits for accidents than women. But just because the risk was taken doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do.
But back to business, and as overall business ownership grew by 9% in the last two years, women as those owners grew 29%. So that gap is certainly closing.
Is that because women are taking more risks? Not likely. It’s more because the calculated risks that women take lend themselves better to the long term than men. More women will come to the educated conclusion that the risks outweigh the decision and opt out of taking the jump. Men, on the other hand, will take the jump and thus be more likely to fail as that testosterone impulsion kicks in.
Regret
But really, for us, the question shouldn’t be about women taking more risks or even men less. It isn’t even about only taking more calculated risks. For us, it’s about regret being more important than failure.
If you read an article that discusses the biggest regrets people feel when their life is nearing the end, the underlying problem is the same; they chose not to take the risk. Whether that makes them more successful in business means nothing at the end of the day.
Regret is the sole biggest mistake the average person will feel, and that’s why you should take that risk. Not because you won’t regret the failure, but because you’ll feel more regret for not taking the chance, to begin with. Better to risk and fail than die regretful. Sorry ladies.
The Conclusion
All these stats and figures are for scientists and bean counters; what about passion, drive and above all, disappointment and the emotions of both life and business.
Taking a risk every now and then is good for you, regardless of gender. But the risk also needs to be worth taking. Jumping out of a plane without any knowledge or experience of how a parachute works is stupid and will most likely kill you. It still might kill you even though you have jumped hundred times before, but the risk is way lower, and it’s no longer a stupid risk to take.
And it works the same way in business. Investing in something you barely ever heard of is foolish, but if you do some research and spend time to create a good strategy, it can be worth taking the risk.
We don’t think that men taking more risks makes them more successful in business than women. But we do think it makes them more likely to feel fulfilled when they look back on their lives and weigh up their regrets.
