Doing Business Boldly: The Art of Taking Intelligent Risks

DOING BUSINESS BOLDLY is a story of wisdom and daring, the testimony of successful players some big, some not so big on the art of taking risks. Through the voices and experiences of businesspeople-including Roberto Goizueta at Coke, Bob Swanson at Genentech, Allen Neuharth at Gannett, legendary venture capitalist Fred Adler-as well as management experts, psychologists and little-known entrepreneurs, Kehrer penetrates to the heart of the creative aggression that is the engine of enterprise. By focusing on how and why the masters decide to take risks, Kehrer reveals the balancing act that defines intelligent risk-taking.

• How do they balance research and hunch, reward and danger, freedom and control?

• How do they see both the big picture and the details?

• What separates courage from mere recklessness?

• How do risk takers think?

• Where do they hunt opportunity?

• How do they deal with disaster?

DOING BUSINESS BOLDLY is replete with stories of different kinds of risks-launching USA Today, changing Coke's formula, buying E. F. Hutton, reorganizing IBM, financing a bullet train, plus other start-ups, mergers and divestitures. Together they describe what Kehrer calls "risk dynamics," the special instincts that separate the meek, who try to avoid risk, from those who build and profit by seeking it out.