Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, …
Robert Frost – Author of The Road Not Taken Poem
What roads have you taken in life and work? Did you have choices of multiple roads? Why did you make the choices you made? Or, did circumstances dictate the choice for you? How did you look at risk? These simple questions may help define your happiness in life and work. The more choices you had, the smarter the decisions you made, the higher the probability you’re happy.
From our experience, your personal risk profile or risk appetite is one of the key factors in determining your life’s work arc and ultimately your satisfaction. This is hugely important in COVID time:
“New Normal will largely be determined by individual behaviors – influenced by their own unique risk tolerances. Risk tolerance is the willingness to accept a range of risk, above or below an established risk reality – such as contracting COVID-19. On the low side, risk tolerance is actively avoiding contracting COVID-19. On the high side, it might be accepting symptoms, illness and even death as possible outcomes.”[i]
Why do you keep doing the same things over and over again that don’t make you happy? One reason: you may be risk averse. Or, you may feel comfortable by taking the well-traveled and familiar road in the above quote. It’s natural. Most of us take the path of least resistance because it’s a known and well-trodden path. And, much of life works this way. This is OK for most work decisions.
A risk taker would aim for the higher rewards that come with taking higher risks. Risk sensitive VUCANs may be the smartest. They don’t want to lose what they have by taking the unknown road leading to more risk.
Work Lesson Earned: Most of us are not one or the other, we assume different roles and make decisions based on context. A risk averse VUCAN would probably want a full-time job with an established corporation, preferably doing core work. And, a risk-sensitive VUCAN would be a gig-worker when the economy is expanding and a full-time employee when the economy is contracting for stability. Another interesting element of work decision making is we tend to look for facts that support our thinking (confirmation bias) and disbelieve messages that don’t conform our thinking.
[i] ‘Who Decides the New Normal?’, Stephen Villaescusa & Steven Bradt, CERM Risk Insights, May 2020.