Risk-Taking: How Badly Do You Want It?

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to play fair and to win. Someone once said that the "world was a tuxedo, but they felt like brown shoes." You should strive to be the bow tie or better yet, the tux. If you wake up feeling like the sock, you will end up stinking.

Be front and center. Even if you are shy and reserved, let your craft do the work. Be bold and crave success because it rarely lands in your lap. And even if it does, it may slip between your grasp like a fumble in the end zone.

Double Edged Sword: Risk Versus Return

When you enter your first job, you can choose to rise slowly or look for the elevator and take the express route. But if you do plan on going that way, make sure that you understand your audience and remember that those you report to will have become jaded.

Not All Risks Taken Lead To Great Results

The greater your wish to triumph, the higher the likelihood of defeat. Success does not come without a cost. Ask Alex Zanardi. Zanardi was a high-flying, speed-loving and thrill-seeking racecar driver. His initial stint in the Cart Series was very successful. He then crossed lines and moved to Formula 1 where he experienced moderate success. When he came back to Cart, he sought to get back everything that he once had.

In the 2001 campaign, everything changed. Fellow driver Alex Tagliani of the Players Forsythe racing team hit Zanardi's car. In a tragic accident, Zanardi lost both of his legs.

The more you want out of life, the more you must be willing to lose. Business is often similar. In the wake of the Enron debacle, J. Clifford Baxter, one of the loudest critics of Enron management during the swindle ended up taking his life in January 2002 after word of his involvement was publicized to the media.