As a leader from a technical background, I’m used to wanting to minimize risk. I am not comfortable giving an estimate without a lot of detailed requirements. Being a leader involves taking risks and being willing to work without all the information you might desire.

This snippet from Fortune has a tagline "If you want a serene, uneventful life, don’t become a leader.” The article highlights three stories of leaders on that day that describe the ups and downs of being a leader. The marquee story is about the new CEO of United Airlines who took over under the cloud of the previous CEO impropriety, promptly had a heart attack (and transplant) and is now fighting a proxy fight for control of United. It is a wild ride, and not unusual for the CEO of a large organization.

I would consider a different lesson in these stories. Leaders are expected to take risks. The job of a leader is to make sense of the chaos of life and create a path to deliver results. That path is not risk-free, nor is is crystal clear. I see technical leaders shy away from risk taking when they have been rewarded for being conservative early in their career.

Our organizations will often reward a technical resource for padding estimates or identifying risks. As that same technical resource becomes a technical leader, we are responsible for taking the information we are given and using our judgement to make an informed decision. We must take a risk in order to move forward and deliver results.

The lesson that we must be open to taking risks is not just for leaders. This article from HBR talks about the cost of not taking risks in your career. Anyone who sits still or hesitates to use their judgement and chart a course forward will be left behind. We are all in charge of our own career and our path forward. We often do not evaluate the costs of not doing something.

One of the best questions my coach asks me is “What is the cost of doing that? What is the cost of not doing that?” When you consider a job change or a new role, we may not look at the cost of standing still. Asking the question from both sides allows us the opportunity to assess the real risk. We must assess the real cost of taking a risk against the cost of not taking that risk.

One of my favorite movies that tells the story of the financial collapse of a few years ago is Margin Call, where the CEO of a large firm played by Jeremy Irons describes his role:

"I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear - a - thing. Just... silence."

As you become more senior and find yourself leading others, you will find yourself giving direction and providing plans to others that will be based on your judgement. Your role becomes one of wading through the chaos and guessing what the music might do. That role will always involve both some risk and some reward.