Page 56 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

ward?” are just as fraught with peril as any question in the AOL-Time
Warner union.
This little merger also represents an enterprise risk. The two owners are
making a potentially business-ending bet that, first, they will get along
and, second, they will make more money because they have joined forces.
Even smaller risks are career makers or breakers. Every project in the
world has a father or mother who decided to take the risk. And organiza-
tional memory is very sharp on this point—who decided to take the risk.
So you must learn to take risks in a calculated way. The worst sin is not
to be able to understand the risks you face, either because you are so risk-
averse that you say “No” to everything or because you have no risk filter
whatsoever.
For example, I once had a senior executive who thought we ought to
throw every conceivable product into the marketplace as quickly as pos-
sible, to the point where we had way too many products, many of which
didn’t function properly or were mispriced. Our salespeople, sensibly
enough, were picking through this grab
bag and only selling the ones that were
THE WORST SIN IS well priced. But not necessarily for our
NOT TO BE ABLE TO profit. Well priced for their commis-
UNDERSTAND THE sions. Needless to say, this executive
RISKS YOU FACE, soon lost all credibility with me on the
EITHER BECAUSE product-development front.
YOU ARE SO RISK- Many people never rise above a cer-
AVERSE THAT YOU tain level because they never see the
SAY “NO” TO downside of anything, particularly since
EVERYTHING OR it is not their own money at risk. This is
BECAUSE YOU a particular danger for people who start
HAVE NO RISK out in sales. They have to have such a
FILTER positive attitude that they often lack any
WHATSOEVER. kind of risk DNA. They’ve knocked on a
thousand doors and are used to getting

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