Risk - what is your risk tolerance?

Risk Tolerance is something I learned about it my MBA program. What does risk tolerance mean? Basically, it means the degree of uncertainty that an investor can handle as it relates to their portfolio. This risk tolerance is often related to a persons age, income needs, financial goals, and so forth. The idea is "how much are you willing to gamble when you can't get a good read on the future or what will happen next.

Why am I talking about risk? Well, because it is something I have been thinking about for quite a few months. The past seven months I have been struggling to get a handle on my own level of risk tolerance in pursuing my passions and goals. is It is one of the reasons I have not written a blog in since November. As I have been thinking about this, I have realized there is a wide range of ways I (we) take risks. Here are just a few:

Walking the dog:

Skyla, the best chow/shepherd mix dog I know!

Back in December I was walking Skyla early one morning and we came upon a man walking three long haired dachshunds. Even though Skyla is a mid-sized very friendly dog, the man proceeded to take his three little dogs into the street. I greeted the man and made some comment about Skyla being friendly. He replied by saying that dachshund's are the Hell's Angels (notorious Motorcycle gang) of the canine world. This had me laughing for a good several weeks later and helped me understand my penchant for motorcycles.

Me in my early motorcycle gang days with

Skippy, the family "Hell's Angel"

Eating: In May I traveled to Manilla, Philippines to teach a class for Bakke Graduate University (BGU) entitled Vision, Values and Entrepreneurial Leadership (I will share more on this trip in a subsequent blog). I must be Filipino as I loved the food. It helps that they like fried food. Granted I didn't try every Filipino dish yet the ones I tried were great: adobo (spicy stewed meat), caldo (stew), bodbod (glutonous rice cakes), pancit (noodle dish), and halo halo (sweet beans, corn, fruit, jello squares, served over shaved ice with red bean ice cream. hmmm hmmm good).

Adobo, Caldo, rice and other unknown filipino foods.

Halo halo (means mix mix)

My new favorite "dessert"

Learning: On the surface, this may not seem like a risk, however learning can push open the doors to personal and organizational change, or to use a buzz word, transformation. This is particularly true when one takes classes from a school whose objective is to create transformed leaders who will then transform their organizations, communities, cities and nations. As a thank you for the many hours of volunteer consulting work I have done for BGU, they allowed me to take two of their Doctorate level classes: Work, Calling, and Human Dignity (also known as the Theology of Work); and Overture I, the overview class for their Doctorate program focusing on transformational leadership, social justice, and urban renewal.

I felt like I was back at Thunderbird as over 50% of the class were from outside the US and representing: Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Philippines, Algeria, Taiwan, India, and Burma. The outcome of this class for me was to renew my focus on my own passion and goals of helping those that no one else is helping.

Following Passion and Goals: The risk in this category almost goes without saying. However, now that I am sitting here trying to formulate the words for the risks I have felt here, I realize that to articulate the specific risks adds the risk of transparency. Over the past two and a half years I have made the choice to put myself in places where I can build the knowledge or networks needed to develop my idea. The idea being a unique corporate training and retreat site that creates new inspiration for innovation in the corporate guests and provides job and life skills for the former foster kids who would help run the site. These 2 1/2 years have been filed with incredible blessings and adventures. I have worked in Durango CO, Romania, and Manilla; driven across the USA twice and have been able to help friends and family with different needs and projects; seen amazing things; met incredible people and uncovered an amazing network of people who might one day participate in this dream.

The risks for this choise is the risk of being seen as crazy, lazy or incompetent because I am not making the money that I could be making in other settings. Struggling to find short term contract work that uses my gifts and flexes the knowledge muscles I acquired in school is a risk because it feeds into my tendency to sell myself short (and I don't mean short in stature although some would argue that I am indeed short in stature). Moving around so much and living so far from existing friends and family is a risk with my temperament and tendency to isolate (as evidenced by the seven month lag in my blog).

Asking for Help: This is risky for most everyone of us. If you are like me and stubbornly independent (to use the words of a good friend, or two, or three, or ......), this is the riskiest of all I have listed in this blog. A friend of mine recently wrote a blog about creating a circle of care when things are difficult or challenging. In business school they call it begging from family, friends and fools.

I prefer the term "cheering section". Because, really, that is what I need right now, a cheering section. Don't worry, I won't make you wear the best cheering "uniform" I wore this fall.

How can you NOT smile when wearing this?

While the past 2 1/2 years have been incredible wonderful they have also been challenging and lately I have become increasingly discouraged, to the point of forgetting my goals and loosing my passion. So, how can you cheer me on? I am so glad you asked as there are a variety of ways:

• live your life to the fullest
• send me a card, note, fun photo, sticker (I LOVE stickers)
• text me anything - the more random the more fun (626-318-0103)
• give financially - a check; gift cards for Tully's (the coffee shop I call my office), Target, Trader Joes (my grocery store) or REI. The work I have been able to find doesn't always cover all my obligations and needs.
• share music, music, and more music
• visit - Seattle is very mild in the summer so if you need to escape the heat - welcome!
• create your own idea of "cheering me on"
• remind me of who I am and what I can offer because sometimes I forget
• let me know what is going on in your life and how I can cheer you on

There was a very interesting article in LiveScience on this idea of having social support and using ones abilities to find true happiness and joy in life.

I have a sense (which I hope is right), that something will move or happen in this dream of mine in the next 4-6 months. The past few weeks I have noticed that the networks I have somewhat accidentally been building here in Seattle are the very networks I would need to live out my dream. Through Bakke Graduate University I have meet: powerful businessmen who are also investors in social endeavors like mine; heads of foundations whose mission are inline with my goals; commercial real-estate developer who's value is to help the disenfranchised of the city; former entrepreneurial consultant for Accenture (one of the big consulting firms); a potential business partner; and New Horizons - a non profit working with street kids, 40% of whom are foster kids, that builds relationships with the kids first and foremost and then provides life and job skills training. New Horizons recently opened Street Bean Espresso to provide opportunities for the street kids to gain work experience and learn about running a business. Encountering these networks would not have been possible had I been working full time at a job that "pays the bills".

New Horizons Youth Center a place

where kids can shower, get clean clothes, eat, hang out and sleep in safety.

There are no current job openings at either New Horizons or Street Bean so I have begun the process of serving as a volunteer in both organizations. This will be an invaluable experience as it will develop even deeper networks and provide insight into the work with these types of kids while moving my dream forward. I realized recently that I can't keep waiting until I have the financial resources necessary to sustain my life before I volunteer and give my time in ways that will move the dream forward. Again, a risk because some would call it crazy or irresponsible. I call it being faithful to what I am called and created to do - it helps me sleep at night :-).

If you need my address here it is:

100 Florentia Street, #1

Seattle, WA 98109

I would love to hear your comments on this post and, even more, to hear the ways you live out your level of risk tolerance.