The Right Risk-Taking

That's because that sort of background makes it more likely a particular entrepreneur will be willing to take the risks necessary to succeed with its latest business idea.

Geoff Moore, a venture capitalist and the best-selling author of "Crossing The Chasm" and, more recently, "Dealing With Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate At Every Stage Of Their Evolution," underscored the importance of calculated risk-taking during his keynote speech earlier this month for solution providers attending the 10th CRN Industry Hall of Fame event in San Jose, Calif.

A student not just of the high-tech industry but of the channel, Moore believes some VARs and resellers are too paralyzed by nostalgia over past successes to risk stepping out of an existing business model that may, quite frankly, become extinct. Others don't have the discipline to focus their risks, he says, because they try to be all things to all customers. When they take risks or try new strategies to move to another stage, their investments are too diversified or too small to make a real difference.

For Moore, effective innovation is closely tied to the right sort of risk-taking. That is, investments that build on a solution provider's core value proposition and extend it into a realm where no one else exists. In this instance, the informed nostalgic actually has one major advantage: an intimacy with its customers that will provide almost instantaneous feedback on the new direction and whether or not the risk is sound.

During the Hall of Fame induction ceremony the same day as Moore's presentation, programming pioneer Alan Kay also encouraged solution providers to continually challenge their existing worldview. If you believe you're the smartest person in the room, Kay said during his acceptance speech, go find a place where that isn't true. You should strive to acquire knowledge for your entire business career, no matter your title.

I believe both men are advocating the same thing when it comes to innovation—take informed risks that are big enough to have an impact. If you fail, dust off and try again.

Are you taking the right risks? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, welcomes e-mail at [email protected].