Embracing Change and Taking Risks 
Can Enhance Your Career
by Debra Pestrak
It’s been said that the only thing constant in life is change. The same holds true for the business world. As corporate America continues to evolve, those who embrace change and who are willing to take risks are the ones who thrive. They’ve found that “playing it safe” is no longer the motto for business success.
Unfortunately, many people resist change and become content in their own comfort zone. They rarely venture out for fear of getting knocked down or failing, and they resist organizational or operational changes that come their way. While they may believe that keeping things the same will keep them on the right path, today’s corporations want people who can step out of the norm and who are confident enough to take calculated risks.
When several Fortune 500® corporate executives were asked about their success formula, they all agreed that the ability to embrace change and accept risks ranked very high. In fact, all these top executives revealed how they took on the responsibility to be a change agent for their organizations. They put themselves out there and said, “Yes, I can do it!”
While being a change agent can seem intimidating, it’s a necessary part of business success. Granted, embracing change takes courage, but each person has that kind of courage deep inside. It’s simply a matter of recognizing that courage and harnessing it. Ellen Hancock, Chairman and Chief Executive Office, Exodus Communications®, knows that accepting change is what helped her excel in her career. She explains, “I learned not to stay in my comfort zone, and to always watch around me, to see what is changing next. Do I have to change again just to respond to something new that wasn’t there six months ago when I established a strategy?” By questioning her surroundings and always being ready for change, Hancock was able to reach inside herself and accept the unknown. This enabled her to achieve the happiness and fulfillment she deserved.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Only by taking risks do we grow and achieve success. By immersing yourself in the challenges you face, you will be concentrating on what needs to be done instead of focusing on your fears. Psychologists tell us that we have the emotion of fear to protect ourselves from harm. Unfortunately, this defence mechanism can get in our way if we allow it to limit us from being our best and getting what we truly want out of life.
Anne Sweeney, President, Disney/ABC Cable Networks and President, Disney Channel, has learned how to keep the element of risk in proper perspective. She says, “It is important to always find the unknown exciting. Another key to success is having the ability and willingness to open the door that someone else hasn’t yet opened. Forge the new path. Turn things upside down and think about them differently. Take things apart and put them back together again. Everything is up for grabs.”
By taking risks, you are saying, “I’m prepared to fail, to make mistakes, because that is a reality.” Whatever you set your sights on is what you will achieve. If you set the limit low, that’s probably as far as you will go. The mind only knows what you tell it. It has no sense of the truth. The truth is what you tell it. If you think you can or can’t, you’re right.
The risks you take are a direct correlation to your belief in yourself.  By taking a risk, you show the faith and confidence you have in yourself. 
Make the Tough Calls
Part of embracing change and taking risks is being able to make decisions in your career. You can’t avoid the hard decisions in life or in business. You can postpone them, but eventually they have to be faced. Ellen Hancock agrees and explains, “many of these decisions are heart-rending decisions that do take a toll on you and your whole spirit. But if you don’t make them, success is very hard to accomplish. If you really want to achieve something, you can’t avoid these difficult decisions. They pop up whether you like them to or not.”
Regardless of the decision, though, isn’t making such a choice better when done early rather than torturing yourself over a decision you can’t run from? If you’re having difficultly making the tough call, find out if you need additional information to make a decision. Where can you get some advice? Sometimes, people are reluctant to ask for help, but we can’t know everything.  Relying on your instincts will enable you to make decisions even when you don’t have all the facts. When you work through something and take the risk, you become stronger.
Jean Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Institutional, says, “It’s important to learn to make decisions quickly and in a timely way. This means knowing how much information you really need to make a decision without overanalysing it. You also need to understand the market and competitive forces at work. It comes down to doing your homework, understanding the risks, making the decision—and then sticking with it. Don’t be afraid to learn from your experiences. If you didn’t quite do it right at first, understand why that was, and strive to do it better the next time.” She proves that even if a risk you take fails, all is not lost. As long as you can learn from your mistake, the risk was still a success.
The Passion Behind Change and Risk
When you’re passionate about your work and believe in what you’re doing, embracing change and taking risks are much easier. Jean Hamilton makes an excellent point about how having the passion allows you to push forward, to take the leap to what you know is right in your heart. If you don’t have that passion, “when it comes time to make the tough decisions, you’ll be afraid to make them. You won’t do what you know has to be done because you don’t feel it in your heart. You won’t be willing to take the risk and say this is what has to be done for the business; this is the right thing to do.”
Pushing forward is something many successful executives practice every day. They’ve learned that they need to analyze a situation and see how it fits with their beliefs to determine if the risk is worth it. As Shelley Broader, Senior Vice President, Hannaford Brothers, explains, “You have to take the risk. But you can’t just jump from risk to risk. You have to produce the results. I have a track record of producing results.” While Broader cites herself as being an intuitive person who jumps in and “just does it,” she values the importance of tempering her passion with logic. She knows there must be a motive behind any change or risk.
Forge Your Path Today
Success in business comes to those who seek it out—those people who aren’t afraid to make changes or take risks. If you want to reach the top level of corporate success, evaluate your own tolerance for change and risk. If you find that it’s lacking, determine what is holding you back and strive to be more open to the possibilities around you. When you can allow change and risk to be comfortable aspects of your business pursuits, your success is inevitable.
Read Only Copyright 2001 Debra Pestrak Used with permission of copyright holder

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Debra Pestrak is an expert at helping people unleash their success, allowing people to be more productive and getting what they want out of life. She is an award-winning speaker, author, business consultant, educator and coach. Pestrak is founder and CEO of Success UNleashed, Inc.®, a company dedicated to delivering high-impact and empowering programs. Visit www.debrapestrak.com for more information on Debra and her programs.