Taking a risk

Life ain't fun or rewarding without taking risks. But you can't be taking them willy-nilly or all the time.

Last month, I left a great job at Microsoft after five years. I helped develop a Bluetooth stack, I managed device driver teams in Windows. For the last two years, I was teaching and consulting, working for a great boss, getting to read/think/write. Seems stupid to give that all away. But ... it was getting too comfortable.

In my life I want to live and learn, to help solve some important problems, and to leave some kind of legacy. In all three places, I was getting diminishing returns from the old path.

I've done this before (a startup in the late 90s called Cosource.com). And, as is often advisable with risk taking, I had carefully prepared again -- living below our means in order to save money for this day, building my skills and network, avoiding conflicts of interest that would limit my choices, etc.

And so, two or three years from now we may know whether this particular risk will pay off. But if it doesn't, that's ok. I try to keep my skills marketable, and my bridges intact. And I think that is heart of any advice around taking a risk: if you're prepared to succeed and prepared to fail, then you can leap without fear.

The greatest rewards go to the risk takers. Get prepared and go for it.