Mark Zuckerberg famously said that the biggest risk of all is not taking any risk at all. During the last weeks, I have had workshops at multiple companies and there is a common pattern. All companies have put roles in place whose only job is to avoid risk for the company. This can be regulatory compliance, safety or reputational risk. These people often have the power to stop initiatives and are rewarded for one thing only: avoid the risk. In their role, there is no counterforce that allows for balancing risk avoidance with innovation or other business development activities. The consequence is a deadlock between people that are looking to grow the business and the “guards” that make sure nothing involving risk will happen. This is a death sentence for any company that lives in a rapidly changing context. And with digitalization, every company is in that place. So, we need to increase our risk appetite, both as individuals and as companies, quite a bit. Rather than saying no, the right question to ask is how we can run the initiative while minimizing risk. So, what risk are you taking today?