Ever watch those National Geographic specials about the African savanna? They always show the lions in one of two postures. They are lazily sleeping in a group under whatever shade they can find or they are tearing across the scrub brush in pursuit of a meal.
Lions know instinctively that hunting is an inherently risky business. Every time they go out in pursuit of food there is risk. They risk anything from needlessly burning up energy, should they fail to catch their quarry, even severe injury or even death when they commit to a hunt. Lions do not hunt merely to hunt, they only hunt when they are hungry. They do a simple calculation in their minds to determine if the hunger is bad enough to run the risk of being injured or killed. At some point hunger wins out and they set off in search of a meal.
Lions also know that the larger the animal they are hunting, the higher the probability of being hurt. Hunting a gazelle is fairly low risk. It is also a relatively small reward for the effort. Hunting a water buffalo or even an elephant is a much higher risk with an associated higher reward for the effort. The hungrier they are, the larger risk they will take for their next meal.
A reasonable alternative for a lion is to simply lie in the shade and refuse to hunt, thereby eliminating the risk of being hurt at all. This decision also leads to death by starvation, a slow and agonizing way to die.
Business owners are much like that lion. We make calculations on how much risk to take based largely on how hungry we are. The larger the hunger, the more risk we will take. Sure, there is always the possibility we will fail. The reality is that if we do not take certain calculated risks we will ultimately starve our business to death slowly and painfully.
I have chosen to find hunger within, wherever I can, as a way to motivate myself to take those calculated risks, have you?
How hungry are you? What will you risk to satisfy your hunger?
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