Michele Wucker: How "Risk Empathy" Impacts Team Performance

Do you know what your risk fingerprint is? Like your actual fingerprint, your risk fingerprint is unique to you and based on your biology, but also your experiences and environment. Your risk fingerprint shapes what you see as risk or what you don’t believe is risk. It shapes how you make decisions, connect with people, and live your life. Understanding the risk profiles of others is what my guest today, Michele Wucker, calls “risk empathy.” It’s yet another factor you will want to consider when creating a high-performing team but also helps you better understand where someone is coming from, rather than making assumptions. Today we talk about how to assess your risk fingerprint, what risk empathy means, and why the term “risk averse” is a destructive stereotype. We also talk about why ensuring you have risk diversity on your team will help you make better decisions. 

Key Takeaways:

• Taking risks is like building muscle - the more you do it, the easier it gets. 
• Risk is a perception based on your own lens.The more control you have, the less risky you see something as being. 
• You're going to have different risk tolerances in different parts of your life. You want to set up a good risk portfolio across your life.

"We talk about gender or race when we are looking at diversity, but I think it's very important to look specifically at risk. Generations approach risk very differently because they've had very different risk experiences." —  Michele Wucker

About Michele Wucker:

Michele Wucker, Strategic Advisor & Author, The Gray Rhino and You Are What You Risk

Best-selling author and strategic advisor Michele Wucker coined the term “gray rhino” for obvious, probable, impactful risks, which we are surprisingly likely but not condemned to neglect. A former media and think tank executive, she is founder of the Chicago-based strategy firm Gray Rhino & Company. She is the author of four books including the influential global bestseller THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore and the recently published sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.

Connect with Michele Wucker:  

Website: https://www.thegrayrhino.com

Book: You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wucker

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wucker/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicheleWucker

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelewucker/

Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria’s brand strategy work and books: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

Twitter: @redslice

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