Your Safest Choices May Be Your Riskiest

To repeat my definition of safe and risky career choices:

A “safe” job choice is one that you believe is on your destiny path. A “risky” choice is one that is not.

I don’t know whether your “safe” choice will be a high-paying, high-prestige job, an entrepreneurial launch, or the distribution of relief services in Darfur. I know that what you need to do to stay on your path will vary over the course of your life. And I know that whatever it is, it will be meaningful to you and of service to others. Is money important? Of course it is, in balance with contribution to others.

What are the “riskiest” choices? Those that don’t allow you to become the person you want to be, to live your life full measure. Survey results of the general population confirm that people’s biggest fear is neither death (which ranks third) nor public speaking (second) but “failing to live a meaningful life.” That’s our greatest fear, our biggest risk. And it all begins with not living your life.

I fear not living my life. I fear looking in the mirror and not liking what I see. I fear not having the right regrets. I fear not being the best me, of dying with my music still inside. Whenever I ask myself, “If I do this, what’s the worst that could happen?” it’s rarely worse than not living my life out loud.

I realize that in the business school environment, these are not the standard definitions of safety and risk. I realize that you are given a narrow range of career options to choose from, unless you want to search outside the traditional recruiting opportunities. And I realize the challenge of being highly risk-averse with all the pressure and expectations of what you will do with that great opportunity of an MBA. You’re also very good at putting pressure on yourself.

I was concerned about how I’d honor all the sacrifices my parents had made to get me through school. But as a parent, I now realize that whereas I might not understand my children at first, what I most want is for them to be happy and contribute to society. I also want them to reframe the voices of judgment they will hear that may pull them away from their destiny path.

The next four chapters will help you reframe and redefine your notion of the risk-reward trade-off in a way that works for you. It’s a way you always knew but have forgotten. Once there, you’ll see that the riskiest outcomes for the head are often the least risky for the heart. What seemed like the safest choice in your current environment may preclude happiness and fulfillment down the road. Or at least, slow you down a bit.

One statistic stunned me into rethinking my career, how I spent my time, and how I did or did not live my values. I learned several years ago that the country of Tanzania, with its twenty-five million people, had a gross domestic product that year less than what a well-known investment bank made and shared among its 161 partners. Now, don’t go rushing to that investment bank for a job just yet! That wasn’t my point. My point is, aren’t these truths today that should not be truths tomorrow?

I know that in the time it took you to read the preceding paragraph (twenty seconds), one hundred children died of starvation. I know that over four billion people don’t have enough to eat. I don’t let these facts paralyze me, nor am I going off to live like Mother Teresa. But I do know that those realities make me think more deeply about what I can do to make a difference through the most powerful force on the planet (no, it’s not compound interest): business.

A decade ago, I was asked in front of four hundred University of Michigan alums to describe in one sentence what is a good business. I was caught off guard and had little time to think. Normally, my response would have been about serving all the stakeholders. Instead, what came out of me was this: “A good business uplifts the human spirit and helps alleviate poverty and suffering on the planet.”

After I said it, you could have heard a pin drop in the room! “I heard mumblings like, Are we at the Divinity School or the Business School?” For the next ninety minutes, however, the questions all had a different tone. That evening, we looked at the business world and our careers from the perspective of my definition. I’ve since used that expression as my personal North Star. You’ll find your star by working through Chapters 1 and 2 and then applying what you learn there in Chapters 3 and 4.