PHOTO: COURTESY OF RODRIGO JORDAN


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odrigo Jordan is one of the biggest adventure junkies I know. The Chilean-born entrepre- neur loves extreme sports,


and in 1992 became the first South American to scale Everest. Like many, Rodrigo dreamed


of starting his own firm, in his case an outdoor leadership train- ing company. But the man who takes risks in his personal life was unwilling to risk his future. So he found allies, ran a test program, and kept his teaching job until money came in. “The common wisdom is all


wrong,” Rodrigo told me. “Entre- preneurs don’t like to take risks. I’m always trying to avoid and minimize them. An entrepreneur should never be a daredevil.” Maybe the trickiest question for those dreaming of starting something new is, how far to go? Convention says: Go all in. Mort- gage the house. Bet the farm. McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc


shared this sentiment: “If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” This myth, like much business lore, appeals to a kind of macho bravado. The phrase “bet the farm” comes from poker tables in the Wild West. Boys will be boys, but entrepre- neurs will be savvy. I’ve spent the past 20 years helping dreamers make their dreams come true. As the cofounder and CEO of En- deavor, the world’s leading organi- zation mentoring entrepreneurs, I’ve helped over a thousand start- ups build their companies to $7 billion in annual sales. And here’s what I’ve learned: Change making is a fine balance


6 | NOVEMBER 2, 2014 © PARADE Publications 2014. All rights reserved “An Entrepreneur Should


Never Be a Daredevil” The secret to following your dream is the opposite of what you might think By Linda Rotenberg


Rodrigo Jordan: an entrepreneur on top of the world.


between taking risk and removing it. And these days, everybody needs to be willing to try.Whether you work at a Fortune 500 com- pany, a nonprofit, or a mom-and- pop, everybody needs to think and act like an entrepreneur. We all need to be nimble, adaptive, dar- ing—and maybe a little crazy—or risk being left behind. But how do you take risks


without risking it all? In my expe- rience, there are two key steps. First, you have to give yourself permission to be a contrarian. Time and again, I’ve seen people who are considering a bold move get stuck at this stage. They keep waiting for someone else to give them permission. That someone doesn’t exist.


The only person who can give


you permission to take risk is you. As one working mom who


launched a big idea in a risk- averse company said, “In every company, no matter how tradi- tional, there are entrepreneurial idea people. But ideas are fragile. They require knowing something is right in your gut.” Even worse, if you agitate for


change, you’re going to get push- back. People are bound to call you crazy, as they did Henry Ford, Estée Lauder, and Sam Walton. So, embrace it. Become your own best booster. Say, “Crazy is a com- pliment!” The second step is more sur-


prising. Once you accept a certain measure of risk, your primary task


is to minimize it. The founder of Liquid Paper, Bette Graham, hatched her crazy idea while watching painters decorate Christ- mas windows at the bank where she was a secretary. But she worked five more years while selling her potion from her home. When Sara Blakely first started selling her derriere-flattering panty hose, Spanx, she didn’t quit her day job for two years. She later became the youngest self-made woman ever on the Forbes billionaire list. So what do smart risks look like? Eighty percent of entrepre- neurs I’ve mentored said they had saved enough money to support their families for a year. Two-thirds of founders on the 2013 Inc. 500 wagered less than $10,000 on their ideas. Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.) has made this process even easier. IBM launched a platform where employees could pitch proj- ects to one another (instead of their bosses). Today taking risk is no longer a


luxury. If you think your job is safe, think again. The most important step is to manage your emotions. To paraphrase golf legend Bobby Jones, entrepre- neurship is a game played on a five-inch field—the distance between your ears.


Linda Rottenberg has been named one of “America’s Top Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report and one of one hundred “Innovators for the 21st Century” by Time magazine. This piece is adapted from her new book, Crazy is a Compli- ment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags.


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