How taking smart risks and stretching yourself can build your career

Not every business risk will pay off, but that doesn’t mean avoiding opportunities or not stretching yourself professionally is the answer.

That was a key message from a panel of thought-leaders addressing the topic of ‘how smart risks can build a great career’ on the first day of the 2023 Future Women Leadership Summit.

“Not every risk pays off and you learn so much from the experience. So don’t shy away from taking a risk,” Lucy Turnbull AO of Turnbull and Partners Pty Ltd said.

Turnbull, the former Lord Mayor of Sydney and philanthropist, shared her own experiences with taking professional risks and offered some sage advice.

“From the perspective of starting a new business or career choices, you’ve got to be a little bit scared,” she told the audience from Sydney. She suggested focusing on avoiding professional regret.

“Do stretch yourself. Do throw yourself into life. Don’t stop yourself from doing something which you will regret not doing. That’s the biggest regret in older people I’ve seen… ‘Oh I wish I’d done this’ or ‘I wish I’d done that’... Don’t be those people,” she said. “Throw yourself into life and do what drives you, do what gives you passion.”

“Obviously things don’t work out all the time, but, it’s having that self-confidence, that assurance when you’re thinking about those calculated risks, like having that faith and belief in yourself that you know what you’re doing is correct. And usually that pays off in the long run.”

Kate Torney OAM, the chief executive of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, agreed. 

“The next thing should be the thing you’re slightly scared of. It should be the thing that stretches you and it’s okay to feel a little bit terrified. But don’t let that paralyse you,” Torney said.

Torney, who spent 20 years at the ABC, including six years as news director, said it was healthy to have professional fear.

“So don’t overthink it, but always stretch a little bit. It’s alright to be a little bit scared,” she said.

Professor Renée Leon, Vice-Chancellor and President of Charles Sturt University, pressed the importance of discounting the imposter syndrome when considering business risks. 

“First of all, you have to put a healthy handicap on that, the part of you that probably goes ‘oh, I can’t do this’ or ‘it really won’t work’,” Professor Leon said. 

“Just take about 80 per cent off that because that’s probably just the female upbringing in a patriarchy talking.”

She said, like any business decision, it’s about risk vs reward. 

“You have to think about ‘if I do take this opportunity or if I do go for this thing’ both ‘what am I risking losing’ and ‘what am I risking gaining’,” she said.

She admitted there are no exact answers to those questions.

“There will always be a bit of weighing up. But one of the things worth doing, that I say within my organisation, is people who are seeing a potential risk should always be prepared to speak about it,” she said. 

“If you see something, say something and you should do that before taking a big risk.”

Prof Leon said it is worthwhile listening to your gut, but talking to yourself about the risks is also important.

“Quite often when you air those things you realise that you can balance risk and reward much better,” she said.

Kayla Kelaher, managing director of Kelaher Industrial Services, also touched on the notion of the professional impostor phenomenon.  

“This imposter syndrome is very real but… having that confidence in yourself really makes a big difference,” Kelaher said.

“Obviously things don’t work out all the time, but, it’s having that self-confidence, that assurance when you’re thinking about those calculated risks, like having that faith and belief in yourself that you know what you’re doing is correct. And usually that pays off in the long run.”

PHOTOGRAPHER: MARK BROOME