The Risk Factor Why Every Organization Needs Big Bets, Bold Characters, and the Occasional Spectacular Failure

by Piscione, Deborah Perry

• ISBN13: 9781137279286
• ISBN10: 1137279281
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-12-23
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Our most revered business icons of the last few decades are the bold risktakers, such as Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs. Yet in today's stock market-driven economy, companies are playing it safe, with too many leaders focused on short-term gains, rather than value creation. The result is a static business culture that generates forgettable results—even as the world demands big solutions. So how do we get back in the risk-taking game? In The Risk Factor, Deborah Perry Piscione takes the most comprehensive look at this crucial, undervalued leadership behavior, and outlines how companies must support risk-taking across the enterprise. Exploring the heroes of risk, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and technologists, and the role risk-taking and failure tolerance play in their success, she makes a compelling case not only for big, flashy mergers or acquisitions, but also for unorthodox choices in everything from leadership to corporate social responsibility. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of now-famous giants (Netflix, Salesforce) and successful start-ups (Tesla, NetApp), she distills lessons for both new entrepreneurs and established companies whose longtime risk aversion has cost them more than they realize.

Author Biography

Deborah Perry Piscione, author of the New York Times bestselling book Secrets of Silicon Valley is an Internet entrepreneur, advisor, and management consultant who works with corporations around the world. A former congressional and White House staffer, she spent over a decade as a media commentator on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, PBS, and NPR programs, and her work has been covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Forbes. She lives in Los Altos Hills, California.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I
Introduction
Why Risk-taking isn’t Gambling: What Poker, Jazz and the Toyota Assembly Line Can Teach You About Business

Part II
The DNA of a BOLD Risk-Taker
Leadership
Corporate culture
The Death of HR and the Birth of Talent
Smart Work
Decision-making
Branding & Marketing
Sales
Crisis management
Improvisational Innovation
Intellectual property

Conclusion
"Yes, and…."