• Only those who are prepared to accept and manage risk are prepared for success. 

• 4 key parameters for managing risk: Extreme objectivity. Do well what depends on you. Be a radical at every step. And Create a support network in the team. 

• High-performing teams trust each other, support each other and protect each other if someone fails.

 If we want to create value, innovate, differentiate ourselves, explore new opportunities and, in short, aim for ambitious goals, we must necessarily accept the risk of failure and the need to manage it in the best possible way.

If we do not want to assume a certain level of risk, we will be limited to working towards mediocre goals and projects that are of little value and, almost always, not at all stimulating.

Each person, each entrepreneur, each adventurer, each leader will have his or her own methodology for controlling and facing risk, and must be very disciplined with his or her system, as the success or failure of each project will depend on it.

Moreover, this is not an absolute and objective concept, as the same situation may be perceived as a very high risk by one person, while for another it will be of a very low or controlled level.

But regardless of the level of perception of a given risk, or the capabilities or methodology that each person has to face it, I expose four parameters that I always try to apply in my process both in the field of extreme adventures and in my more entrepreneurial projects, and that I consider key to good risk management in any scenario or situation:

1-EXTREME OBJECTIVITY: Making a great effort at objectivity in order to understand the situation. There are too many factors that can mask our vision of reality: emotions, prejudices, external opinions, fears, pressure, ideologies or values, and even our own experience (which is good, but every situation is different).  We must try to overcome all these filters to get a good composition of things before making a plan, taking decisions and taking action.

2-DO WELL WHAT DEPENDS ON YOU: In any complex and/or ambitious project, there will be a lot of uncertainties. Stability will never come from the environment, and we must accept that. That is why we have to look for and build stability in ourselves (at personal level, as a team or at organisational level). This is the part that will empower us and give us the confidence not to fail and to manage any risky situation optimally.

3-BE A RADICAL AT EVERY STEP: No matter how much strategy, how much investment and how much preparation there is in a project, many times the difference between success or failure lies in crossing a certain crack. Successful people know how to do this key step well; they don’t fail there!  When we identify a minimally complex or highly critical situation, we have to be radical in every step we take.  Stay calm, don’t get distracted by other factors, don’t look for excuses or blame, be very courageous but not reckless, humble and courageous, be courageous but not reckless, humble and not modest.  We are leading or co-leading an ambitious project, we have prepared well for it, and now we have to honour every key step towards the goal.

4-SUPPORT NETWORK: High-performance teams excel in the trust they maintain among their members, in the support they give each other in critical moments and in tucking each other in if someone fails. They understand that those who take real risks are the ones who really put their talent at the service of the project and, therefore, create value. On the contrary, mediocre teams are full of mistrust, blame and excuse seekers, expert Power Point justifiers, and disincentivisers of commitment and risk towards any ambitious goal.

Although it sounds a bit cliché, we could sum it up in the well-known phrase “No risk, no glory”.  But a phrase or an attitude is useless if there is no adequate leadership behind it to manage that risk well. Each leader with his or her own process, but do not forget these four essential points. Only those who are prepared to accept and manage risk are prepared for success.