Angie Morgan - Bet on You: How to Win with Risk

Copyright 2022 by Lead Star, LLC

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Published by Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

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ISBN 978-1-4002-2980-2 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-2979-6 (HC)

Epub Edition February 2022 9781400229802

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021951250

Printed in the United States of America

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To Ed, Judge, and Gardner. May the risks we take together continue to feel like amazing adventures.

Angie

To Jamie and Tracie. You have everything it takes to bet on you.

Courtney

W ere taught from a very young age to stay on the safe path. From the earliest moments in our lives, weve calibrated our behaviors with no, dont, and stay away from...messages designed to keep us secure.

Then, through our preschool years and beyond, we heard fairy tales and nursery rhymes reinforcing these points.

Remember the tale of Little Red Riding Hood? The story about a girl who strayed off the path and talked to a stranger, which resulted in her near-death experience and the murder of her grandmother? Yeah, the moral of that story isnt subtle at all.

Once we graduated from story hour, we heard adages advocating security, better safe than sorry, and idioms meant to keep us out of trouble, curiosity killed the cat. We also listened to well-intentioned people tell us how to live cautiously, like when our parents pointed out which of our friends were bad seeds, and guidance counselors who encouraged us to apply to safety schools in the likely event that our posthigh school dreams didnt come true.

All these lessons, at the time, were pretty valuable to us. If youve never touched a hot burner, taken candy from a stranger, or, on a more positive note, if youve ever lived out a pretty exciting Plan B experience, then youve been the fortunate recipient of some great life lessons.

There comes a time, though, when these messages stop helping. When weve developed the judgment to keep ourselves free from harm, and enacted agency and moved to the drivers seat of our own life, the lingering effect of consistent play-it-safe directions can block us from pursuing experiences that lead us toward the good life we envision for ourselves.

Its paradoxical, isnt it? The exact guidance that helped raise us to become successful adults is the exact guidance that could be holding us back from fulfilling our dreams.

We see the lasting effects of the play-it-safe mindset in nearly every adult leader we coach. As the founders of Lead Star, a successful leadership development consulting firm, weve spent nearly two decades supporting professionals by helping them develop their vision and leadership skills to increase their results. Our lifes work is to help others succeed, and weve been fortunate to partner with great businesses like Google, Facebook, Walmart, and FedEx.

Like NFL quarterbacks whove watched thousands of hours of video to perfect their game-time, decision-making process, weve witnessed thousands of leaders make many choices. Weve also had the opportunity to coach them through challenges, failures, setbacks, and missteps to help redirect them toward the greater successes they set out to achieve. Through the many leadership development journeys weve been privileged to guide, weve realized even the best leaders often lack the one critical skill set that always leads to breakthroughs:

The consistent ability to bet on themselves.

In Bet on You, were going to help you understand the most common missing ingredient to a life well lived, one where you experience less stress, more success, and more joy. Weve watched too many leaders struggle with unnecessary drama, angst, frustration, and lost happiness by not recognizing their true talents and, instead, defaulting to the play-it-safe mode they were raised to embrace.

The good news is that theres a way to counter our safety bias and build the bridge between where you are and where you want to be. Its through developing and embracing a skill set that youve probably paid little attention to before but is critical now, because itll help you transform uncertainty into opportunity in every aspect of your life.

That skill set is knowing how to take risks.

RISK: THE MISSING INGREDIENT IN YOUR SUCCESS FORMULA

Risk is the missing ingredient in your formula for success, however you choose to define success:

• Investing in your continuing education
• Launching that side-hustle business thats been on your mind
• Moving from the city to the suburbs for a more balanced life
• Earning that promotion that seems out of reach
• Taking a career hiatus so you can live overseas
• Engaging more in making a difference in your community
• Starting a family during the peak season of your career

We understand its likely that no one has ever told you risk-taking would be so critical on your lifes journey. Believe us, no one ever told us either.

We were raised like you. We were taught how to play the security game and later were told that a good education, a network of friends, and landing a good job were all we needed to get ahead in life. No one ever sat us down and pushed this risk-taking message.

We stumbled upon it on our own volition when we both joined the Marine Corps, which is where our friendship was formed. Surprisingly, it wasnt the risky nature of military service that drew us in. It was something elsethe call to be something more, to serve our country, to transform into better versions of ourselves (and a little money for school to boot). Little did we know when we signed up that we were about to get the master class How to Take Risks.

After we left the Marines, we decided to join forces and take many more risks together. We started our business, Lead Star, in 2004 when we were both in our twenties and realized that the leadership lessons we learned in the Corps had so much value to every area of our lives. We also knew that most people have never really learned how to lead in such a practical way as we had, which is often the missing link that connects their talents, education, and desire to advance in their careers. We wanted to do something about this. So, we scraped together some of our savings, pulled out our credit cards to cover where our cash fell short, and started on our journey to build our firm and support professionals as they grew their leadership abilities.

We saw our business as an opportunity to share Marine Corpsinspired leadership lessons with as many people as possible to help them understand that leadership isnt a place on an organization chart; its a behavior. Its the ability to influence outcomes and inspire others. Anyone at any level in a business can lead. When they do, good things happen to themthey build trust, they earn respect, and theyre capable of transforming a group of individuals into a team.