How I Take Career Risks

I know a little something about taking career risk. I’m in the process of launching Ellevest, a digital investment platform for women. This is after running some large Wall Street businesses and working as a sellside research analyst. So my successes and failures have been in the public eye.

I’ve lived the downside of those risks. (Yup, I've been fired on the front page of The Wall Street Journal….twice.) But I've also had some of the most unbelievable jobs and career experiences; and the good has well outweighed the bad.

I recently spoke with a group of professional women, and the questions kept coming back to, again and again: How do you get comfortable taking career risk?

Most of my answers are likely the expected ones:

Firstly, I map my upside and my downside. (Become CEO of Smith Barney, which was struggling at the time? Upside: I get to stretch myself – a lot – by doing something new. I get the opportunity to work to turn around a troubled business. I get to spend my days working in a business that can have a big impact on the lives of its clients and, of course, of its employees. Sounds good. Downside: Potential public failure and humiliation.)

Secondly, I think through what happens in the event of the downside. When I was asked to become Director of Research, the job was so different from the one I was doing at the time – sellside equity research analyst – it wasn’t clear to me that I could successfully make the leap. I thought through what would happen if I failed (in addition to public failure and humiliation). In that case, I could most likely return to being a sellside research analyst, as they were in pretty high demand at the time. So, not a terrible fallback option.

Thirdly, I get very clear on the metrics for success. What is the budget? Is there also a management “stretch budget”? What are the non-budget metrics that matter? What will I directly control, as compared to influence?

Fourth, it pays to get this in writing. Sometimes I have, and sometimes I haven’t. And every time I haven’t, I’ve regretted some part of it (like the time my boss retired pretty quickly after I took a new job and the new guy didn’t uphold part of our handshake agreement).

All of the above matters. But for me, my willingness to take career risks comes down mostly to my sense of perspective.

It’s this: I recognize how unbelievably fortunate I am that I am even able to have these choices, that my husband and I have enough food on the table for our family that I can make job choices that are not just about salary, that my parents invested in my education that I am in this position (when they really couldn’t afford to). As I think about the downside risk (again, there’s that risk of public failure and humiliation), I also always keep the perspective that my worst day is better than so many people’s best day.

With that as a grounding, career risk to me isn’t risk; it’s a privilege. It’s a privilege to build a career that can be so fully engaging and sometimes scary and that can have a positive impact on others. Career risk for me is part of a life well-lived.

 Sallie Krawcheck is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ellevest, a digital investment platform for women. You can sign up for early access here. She is also the Chair of Ellevate Network, the global professional women’s network.

For information about Ellevest, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered investment adviser and its financial advisory services, please visit the firm’s website (www.ellevest.com) or the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov).

 (Photo: Flickr, GotCredit)