The Risk Factor

Our most revered business icons of the last few decades are the bold risk takers who succeeded, 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, and not enough on value creation. Our political leaders won't make a move without polling their most important constituents, and corporate leaders will follow the wishes of their biggest stakeholders, favoring safe incremental improvements over bold, game-changing strategies that could redefine the future. 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 All In, Deborah Perry Piscione takes the most comprehensive look at this crucial, undervalued leadership behavior, and outlines how companies must pivot to support risk-taking across the enterprise, rather than mitigating it. Exploring the heroes of risk, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, technologists and, 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 for unorthodox choices in leadership, corporate culture, hiring, talent development, sales and marketing, crisis management, supply chain distribution, and corporate social responsibility. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of now-famous giants (Amazon, Netflix) and successful start-ups (Tesla, Box), she distills lessons for both new entrepreneurs and established companies whose longtime risk aversion has cost them more than they realize. *This book may have remainder mark*