When is the last time you thought about being eaten by an alligator? When was the last time you contemplated being run over by a cement mixer? Or, how about being beaned in the head by a meteorite? Probably never – right? The risk of any of these things ever happening is so low they never even crossed your mind. But there’s that pesky word that entrepreneurs love to hate . . . risk. As I write this we’ve launched a new year and it’s a good time to take stock of a lot of things.
Have you ever created a Risk Matrix? If not, let me provide some context. We entrepreneurs tend to rock and roll a lot. We have a lot on our plate and are generally an optimistic bunch. When it comes to the subject of risk we may not spend much time in contemplation. We roll with the punches and keep moving forward. This philosophy works most of the time – until it doesn’t. Sometimes what interrupts that forward movement is a risk we didn’t see coming.
Here’s how the Risk Matrix works. Slow down for a moment. Stop juggling. Don’t worry about e-mails, sales figures, meetings, personnel issues and the host of other things that occupy our mind throughout the day. Instead become singularly focused on this exercise. Let’s brainstorm for a while and identify all of the different risks that we encounter in our business or whatever endeavor in which we are engaged. I know that it may be hard, but it’s very necessary for us to follow through and complete this inventory. We need to turn over every stone even if we believe there’s nothing under some of them. There are competitive risks, operational risks, capital risks and macro risks. It’s important that we not leave a single one off of the matrix.
Once we have determined all of the risks we must then figure out how to mitigate them. This will undoubtedly require some strategic thinking on our part. What will we do if our top salesperson walks out the door? How will we respond if a competitor opens a store right across the street? If raw material prices increase by 20% how will we preserve our margins? Suppose our largest client wants to double the amount of business that it does with us? All of these are risks that need to be addressed. And our cataloging of risks has come about based upon the knowledge and understanding we have gained toiling in the trenches day-in and day-out.
Ultimately our Risk Matrix is populated. Perhaps we’ve flagged 20 different ways our train could derail. And maybe there are 30 different mitigation strategies and tactics that we’ve developed to address those risks. Regardless, we’ve spotted the gaps and done our best to plug them as effectively as possible. But there’s still another step to be taken. Suppose that a few of our mitigation strategies or tactics don’t work as advertised? Maybe one or more of the risks leak through and actually have an adverse impact on our organization. What now? We can solve this by also creating contingency plans for that “just in case” situation where a risk overpowers our mitigation efforts. In other words, what specifically will we do if our mitigation strategy to keep that top salesperson in the fold actually fails because he/she gets eaten by an alligator? Gee, we didn’t think about that!
I was a Boy Scout and everyone knows that our motto is “Be Prepared.” Entrepreneurs need to adopt this motto relative to the risks that we face every day. In doing so, we move from being risk takers to risk managers. As individuals the concept is also just as applicable. What personal risks are we exposed to? We deal with personal risks to the loss of our home, car, health and life through various forms of insurance. Perhaps there are other risks that aren’t insurable in a traditional sense, to which we should give thought.
Here’s the bottom line. We can blithely wander through life oblivious to the alligator lurking around the corner that wants to eat us. Or we can spend a few minutes once in a while and think about what could bite us and what we can do to avoid the unpleasant side effects.
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This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.
An Entrepreneur's Words to Live By 