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You’re probably one of the leaders who think playing it safe keeps their organizations secure. But what if the real danger isn’t the risks you take, but the ones you avoid?
Most leaders claim to value innovation and bold decision-making, but when the moment comes, fear often takes the wheel. Whether it’s navigating unpredictable markets, making big investments, or leading a team through change, risk is everywhere. Yet many leaders treat it like a problem to eliminate, instead of a tool to master.
That’s where Risk Expert Jim McCormick comes in. A professional skydiver and best-selling author, Jim has spent decades studying how leaders and organizations can transform risk from a liability into a competitive advantage. He highlights that risk isn’t the enemy — it’s the fuel for growth, innovation, and agility.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
Why Leaders Struggle with Risk
Most of us have been conditioned since childhood to avoid risk. Jim explains that parents, teachers, and coaches repeatedly drilled the message: don’t take risks and you’ll be safe. By the time we enter the workplace, that aversion runs deep.
That’s exactly why our organizations cling to the status quo, suppress new ideas, and lose ground to competitors who are willing to embrace the unknown. It kills innovation inside organizations. Instead of moving forward, people stay stuck in what feels comfortable.
Rethinking Risk: From Fear to Framework
Instead of shying away, Jim encourages leaders to approach risk with structure and clarity. He introduces what he calls the Risk Equation: identify the right risks and implement them effectively. It’s not about being reckless; it’s about thoughtful evaluation and smart execution.
Risk isn’t something to eliminate; it’s something to deploy. When leaders learn to see risk this way, they stop making fear-based decisions and start making smart, calculated moves that actually create opportunities.
Balancing Instigators and Mitigators
An important part of this process is recognizing the different roles people play. Jim explained that every organization has two types of people: instigators who have a bias for action and mitigators who lean toward analysis. Both are essential.
If you only have instigators, you end up running too fast without enough thought. If you only have mitigators, nothing ever gets done. The best leaders know how to strike the right balance so ideas don’t die in endless meetings but also don’t collapse because they weren’t thought through.
Tools Leaders Can Use
Jim offers practical tools that leaders can use immediately to manage risk, make better decisions, build confidence, and encourage innovation inside their organizations.
- Scenario Thinking: Evaluate decisions through three lenses — ideal outcome, most likely outcome, and worst case. This shifts decision-making away from emotion and toward realism.
- POSSUMS (Possibility of Success Enhancement Measures): A framework for constantly improving the odds of success while minimizing downside.
- Risk Quotient (RQ): A way to measure personal and team tendencies toward risk-taking, helping leaders build more balanced decision-making teams.
- Guardrails for Innovation: Clear boundaries for budget, authority, and objectives so teams can take risks without the fear of micromanagement.
By applying these tools, leaders can move from vague fear of the unknown to a disciplined process of deploying risk intelligently.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
Creating a Culture of Permission
We also talked about innovation, and Jim made an important point that innovation only happens at the individual level — when people are given the permission to take risks. Leaders who want creativity and initiative must build cultures where smart risk-taking is rewarded, not punished. That means recognizing effort even when ideas don’t pan out and normalizing failure as part of growth.
In fact, some organizations even hold failure parties to reinforce that lessons from what doesn’t work are just as valuable as the wins. It sends a clear message: risk is part of growth, not something to fear.
Final Thoughts
Avoiding risk is the fastest way to become irrelevant, especially in a world defined by disruption. Agility is no longer optional. It’s your tool for survival. So be one of the leaders who learn to master risk. It’s a skill that will help you tame the wild tides of the future of work. When managed well, risk isn’t something to fear, it’s the pathway to opportunity.
👉 To hear Jim share his full frameworks, stories, and strategies — including how to apply them in your organization — listen to the full episode of Future Ready Leadership below