S4E09 - Michele Wucker on how to think about risk
Risk. For some people, the very thought sends chills down their spines, yet for others, the topic prompts a sense of thrill. Why is that the case? And what does that mean for how we think about risk in decision making?
To answer those questions and more, I turned to Michele Wucker, author of the books, The Gray Rhino, and You Are What You Risk. We chat about how the way we define risk matters, the layers of factors that make up our risk fingerprint, and things to keep in mind about risk when making group decisions.
Topics Covered
03:11 What brought Michele to studying risk
08:12 The way you define risk, matters
12:26 Awareness is the first step in adjusting your natural tendency
13:14 Risk and group dynamics
16:06 Getting the right kind of diversity in the room to promote better decision making
18:02 The risk fingerprint concept
21:36 Optimizing your risk fingerprint given your personality and experiences
23:59 What feels risky depends on your values
25:13 How to build your risk muscle
25:31 Practice
26:32 Self-awareness
27:47 Surrounding yourself with the right people
28:56 Little hacks
30:14 How risk empathy can improve group decision making
31:25 Questions you can ask to better understand someone else's risk fingerprint
35:48 Thinking about risk in decisions that have broader impact
39:39 Me-here-now vs. Us-everywhere-forever
41:00 Final words of wisdom
Guest Bio
Strategist, speaker, and best-selling author Michele Wucker coined the term “gray rhino” as a call to take a fresh look at how we respond to obvious, probable, impactful risks. She founded the Chicago-based advisory firm Gray Rhino & Company and is a former media and think tank executive. Her four books include the influential global bestseller THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore and the recently released sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.
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Resources
THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore
YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
The Ask A Decision Engineer website
Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
Her Decision Toolkit for Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
