Wisdom-Driven Risk Taking For Business Leaders

Risk can grow a business or quietly bury it, and most leaders don’t fail because they “took a chance” they fail because they took the wrong kind of chance for the wrong reason. I walk through how Scripture frames business risk, using Proverbs 22:3 to separate prudence from recklessness and to show why wisdom, not luck, is what keeps a company from stagnating or collapsing.

We get specific about the risks to avoid: ethical compromise that erodes integrity, ego-driven expansion that chases image instead of demand, concentration risk that over-relies on one client or supplier, and hiring choices that ignore character and later damage culture. Then we flip the lens to the risks a healthy Christian business should be willing to take: innovation, delegation, hiring ahead of growth, and strategic market expansion. I also unpack why fear distorts perception and decision-making, plus the other extreme, leaders who chase risk for adrenaline and how that can become ego-driven without guardrails.

To make it practical, I share a biblical model for calculated risk based on Luke 14:28 and a step-by-step approach you can apply immediately: define the objective, name the downside, create an exit strategy, evaluate resources, and seek wise counsel. We also cover protection that makes risk survivable: cash reserves, conservative debt, emergency liquidity, contracts, insurance, governance, culture, and spiritual alignment through prayer and asking God for wisdom.

If you want clearer Christian business leadership, stronger risk management, and better decision-making rooted in biblical principles, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Share Request

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Christian business Christian business.

Why Risk Decides Business Survival

Get The WISDOM Discernment Tool

Four Risks Leaders Must Avoid

Risks Worth Taking For Growth

How Fear Warps Risk Decisions

When Leaders Become Risk Addicts

How To Take Calculated Risks

Building Financial Legal Spiritual Protection

Bottom Line And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Thanks, Kelly, and welcome back to the Christian Business Concepts Podcast, everyone. And I'm I'm so glad that you've downloaded and decided to listen to this week's podcast. I'm your host, Harold Milby, and every week I try my best to help us to apply biblical principles to today's business concepts so that you and I can have true godly success. So I hope that you're encouraged, that you're enlightened, and empowered by what you hear today. As always, I'm going to ask you to help me grow the CBC community by sharing this podcast with four or five others and posting a link to the podcast on your Facebook and on your LinkedIn pages. It's not hard, it's easy to do. If you're not sure how to do it, you can Google it and it'll tell you exactly how to do it. It's very simple. Uh, and this will help us to minister to others. So uh let's share the love, shall we? So today I want to give a big shout out uh to uh Ashburn, Virginia, here in the U.S. for getting on the map as one of the cities with so many downloads. So the CBC podcast is listened to in over 80 countries around the world. And my team and I are truly, truly humbled by the support and the participation of all of those who listen. So we appreciate you, not just in Ashburn, Virginia, but we appreciate you all over the world. Thank you so much for being a part of Christian Business Concepts. So keep up the good work, everybody. Now let's jump into today's topic. Today we're we're talking about something that determines whether your business survives or whether it stagnates. And we're talking about risks. You know, some risk will destroy you, and some risks will define you. And the difference between the two is not luck. Trust me, it's not luck, it's wisdom. You know, Proverbs 22 and 3 says, the prudent uh see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. So that verse alone tells us something powerful. Number one, God does not glorify recklessness, but he also doesn't reward cowardice as uh either. You know, healthy leadership requires discernment and discernment between destructive risk, necessary risk, and calculated risk. And so today we're we're gonna break down risks that businesses should avoid. We're gonna talk about risk that businesses need to take, why fear distorts risk, why some leaders chase risk, and how to take calculated risks wisely, how to protect yourself spiritually, strategically, and structurally. So let's begin because I also want you to do this too. So if you go to to uh www.chhristian businessconcepts.org, or g dot org, and click on resources, you're going to find there in the resources the calculated risk discernment tool. And uh it is basically, we use the acronym WISDOM, W-I-I-S-D-O-M. And it's it's really the wisdom risk assessment framework. And so I encourage you to get that, print it out, use it in your daily routine, especially when you're looking at risks. But I I just wanted to give that to you. I wanted to give you something tangible. Again, there's all kinds of things on uh the website in the resources that's free uh for anyone who would like to take advantage of that. So go to the website again, Christian Business Concepts.org, click on resources and find the calculated risk discernment tool. All right, so risk businesses should stay away from. Let's talk about that first because not all risk are created equal. Some are bold, some are foolish. So the first one we want to stay away from is the ethical compromise risk. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 11 and 3, it says the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. See, any risk that requires compromising your integrity, it's not bold. It's corrosive. And and here are some examples, okay? Manipulating financials, uh, hiding information from people, um, overpromising to your clients when you know that you're overpromising, uh, exploiting your employees. You know, you think about it, Enron collapse not because of market risk, but because of moral risk. You know, when integrity begins to erode, then what happens is you have a collapse. It's just delayed, but it's coming. You know, integrity is like the foundation of a tall building. You don't see it, but if it's got cracks in it, then everything above it has the potential to collapse. So that's important. Number two, the second risk that you should stay away away from is the ego-driven expansion. Ego-driven expansion. You know, James 416 says this as it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. Growth for the sake of image is dangerous. You know, businesses fail when leaders, when they expand too quickly, uh, when they take on debt to look successful, when they launch products without demand. Um, you know, WeWork is a modern example of that. We work. A lot of you may not have heard of them, but if you do a little research about them, you'll find out. But they started off and they were going to be this great company and quickly grew and grew and grew, uh, but they tried to expand too quickly, and they did it because of the ego of the founder. Uh, so you've got to understand that. See, vision without any kind of discipline is unsustainable. You have to have some discipline. Not all growth is healthy growth. So you got to make sure that you have healthy growth, and the only way you can do that is to stay away from anything that's ego-driven. All right, the third is concentration risks. You know, Ecclesiastes 11 and 2 says, invest in seven ventures. Yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. So we don't want to become over-reliant, say, for example, on one client. I knew a company that 80% of their business was one of the big box stores. That was 80% of their business. Box stores are notorious for beating you up on price. They beat them up on price to the point to where they were losing several, several dollars per item that they produced for them. And because they were their biggest client, because it was 80% of their revenue, what happened was is that they they had to close their business down. So the whole business uh, you know, became bankrupt because of they only had one client. So you don't want to be over-reliant on one client. You don't want to be over-reliant on one revenue stream. You should have multiple revenue streams within your organization. You also don't want to be over-reliant on one supplier. You don't want to be over-reliant on one key employee. It's just very fragile leadership, you know, and and really COVID really exposed this almost everywhere. You know, we we begin to see this. There was an over-reliance on one particular supplier or one company, even one key employee. We saw that it got very exposed during COVID. Diversification is not necessarily just because you don't trust someone or something. It's actually wisdom. It's actually wisdom. Remember what it said, the scripture, invest in seven ventures, yea, and eight, because you don't know what disaster may come upon the land. So you you want to make sure that you do that. So the fourth thing you, yeah, the fourth risk you want to stay away from is ignoring character in hiring. Ignoring character in hiring. Proverbs 29, 2 says, When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan. Hiring purely for talent without any kind of investigation into a person's character, you're just inviting future pain that you're going to have to deal with. You know, skill can build revenue. I get that. I understand. Skill can build revenue. But what happens with cult character, character protects the culture of the organization. It protects the culture of the organization. So it's very, very important that you do not ignore character when you hire people. All right. So let's talk about risks that businesses should be willing to take. Um, because some risks are really about obedience, okay? Uh when we're talking about a Christian business. But the first risk that you should be willing to take is innovation risks. You know, Ecclesiastes 11 and 4 says, whoever watches the wind will not plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If you wait for certainty, you'll never move. If you wait till something's perfectly aligned, you won't move. You know, Amazon is a great example of this because they risk everything when they started to transition to cloud computing. And now their AWS drives are a massive revenue to the company. So innovation always feels a little bit unstable at first. You know, I worked on the family farm in the summer, I milked cows and worked in the fields when I was a teenager in the summertime. So I find a lot of great analogies from my experiences, and I'll tell you that when you planted seeds, because those seeds cost money, you had to buy seeds. So if you were going to seed a field for corn, you spent a lot of money on seed. And uh you you you paid employees to do that work. And so in the beginning, planting seeds feel like you're just burying money until the harvest comes. So you don't have the harvest before you planted. You planted before you have the harvest. And so sometimes you have to take that innovation risk. So that's one risk. Another risk is delegation risk. We talked about this at length in an episode, I think it was the last episode, we talked about the power of delegation and how to correctly do that. And uh, if you haven't heard it, you should go back and listen to that. But in Exodus chapter 18, we find out that Moses had to release his authority. His father-in-law came to him and said, You're the bottleneck. You're the model, you're the bottleneck here. You can't keep doing this without wearing yourself out, is what he told Moses. And so he gave Moses some great advice. And so Moses had to begin to release authority and begin to delegate. And delegation risk is what's going to help you build multiplication. And I've shared that before, like I said. The third risk should be hiring ahead of growth. So sometimes you've got to hire before you feel ready. Sometimes you don't feel ready, but you need to hire. David faced Goliath without any conventional armor. He didn't wait until he had conventional armor. You know, 1 Samuel 17, 45 says, you know, David's speaking. He says, You come against me with a sword and spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord. Sometimes you just step forward because conviction outweighs your comfort. Because conviction outweighs your comfort. So sometimes you need to hire ahead of growth so that you're prepared for the growth. Okay? It's kind of like what Wayne Gretzky always said. He said, you know, you gotta you gotta skate to where the puck is gonna be, not where it's at. You gotta skate to where it's gonna be. Sometimes you have to you have to plan ahead and you have to hire to where you're gonna be, not where you're at right now. So sometimes you step forward because that conviction outweighs comfort. Another is um market expansion risk. You know, the early church in Acts chapter 13, they sent Paul and Barnabas into very unknown territory, and that was a very strategic expansion. So, healthy businesses, if you're gonna be a healthy business, you have to enter new markets. You've got to develop new products for those markets, and you have to adopt new technology. Because honestly, stagnation feels very, very safe, but it's a slow, almost unrecognizable decline. And all of a sudden you wonder, how did we get here? So that's important. So let's talk about the fear of taking risks. No matter what the situation, whether you're in business or in a person's personal life, fear has the same hideous outcome. Fear distorts your perception. I hate fear. I literally hate fear because I've seen what it has done to people personally, I've seen what it has done to uh business leaders, it has led to bankruptcies, it has led to company failures, it has led to the the loss of income. I just I hate fear, and I've seen it in people's personal life too. You know, 2 Timothy 1 and 7, we shouldn't all know this, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Notice the sound mind is mentioned because, as I said, fear distorts perception. It distorts the way you see something. See, fear always exaggerates the downsides, the downside, but it minimizes the potential. So, you know, here's here's some common fear-based distortions, if I could, if I could say it that way. Like catastrophic thinking. I mean, like, oh my God, this is gonna be horrible. Oh my god, it's gonna be uh disastrous. You know, we have this catastrophic thinking. Another is we overestimate loss. We overestimate loss, we underestimate resilience. You know, Peter stepped out of the boat. The storm didn't disappear, it didn't go away so that he could say, Oh, I got nothing to be afraid of. No, no, no, no. He stepped out while the storm was going on. But you see, growth never happens inside the boat. You gotta get out of the boat. Fear always asks, what if it fails? But faith always asks, what if it flourishes? Fear will tell you it's gonna fail. Faith will say, not necessarily. And so you you have to understand that that this fear is what holds people back, it over exaggerates the downside and it minimizes the potential. So what is the other extreme with people? Well, you have what I call risk lovers, these are leaders who love to take the risk just for taking the risk. They're chasing an adrenaline, they're chasing a rush. But Proverbs 14, 16 says, the wise fear the Lord and shun evil, but a fool is hot-headed and yet feels secure. So people have sometimes have a risk addiction and it can be ego driven, trust me. You know, Elon Musk is a modern example of high tolerance risk taking because Tesla and Space Uck uh SpaceX were near bankruptcy multiple times when he was taking huge risks. Uh, but he had a visionary, because see, visionary risk can change industries, but you have to have structure because without structure, it can destroy companies. So you have to have the structure behind it. Because healthy leadership is not fear-driven or thrill-driven, it's wisdom-driven. Wisdom driven. You know, um, I think the important thing to understand when we talk about risk lovers, there are people, as I said, that just like to take risk because it gives them a real thrill. And if you're a business owner, you have to be on the lookout for this, especially with senior leaders. If you have senior leaders that are making decisions that have been delegated great authority, you have to be very, very watchful. Make sure you're looking for things that will clue you in. Because if they're risk takers because they're chasing the adrenaline, then you've got to be aware of that before it comes back and bites you. So you have to kind of take a look at that. It's so critically important. So let's talk about calculated risks, you know, and we're gonna talk about this from the biblical model. You know, Luke 14, 28 says, suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost? That's calculated risk. You know, you're going to take a risk, but you're gonna have a calculated risk. It's not reckless, it's not paralyzed, it's calculated. So, what I'd like to do is take a little bit of time and just talk about the components of calculated risk. So, first of all, you've got to have a clear objective. What is it? If you can't write it down, you do not have a clear objective. I've said that so many times, you should know it. But if you cannot write it down, if you cannot articulate it in writing, you do not have a clear objective. So that's the first thing you have to have when you have a calculated risk and you're willing to take it. A clear objective. Now, the next thing that you need to do is you need to define what the downside is. What's the negative, what's the downside, what could come back and hurt you? And you need to be very, very honest about that when you are writing this information down. So you need to know what is the downside in detail, in detail. And then you need to have an exit strategy, an exit strategy. You know, a lot of times when I do events, I do training events, I do business forums and things like that. I always have an exit strategy. What happens if something crazy takes place? And for example, well, in this case, we have to cancel the event. You have to have an exit strategy. What do you do if you get to that place? Then the next thing you need to do is you need to evaluate what resources you need and what resources you have. Now, if you have a need for resources and it's going to take a huge investment, then you have to weigh that out whether or not that risk is worth it. That's part of the calculation. You have to know. Now, sometimes you you have a need for a resource and you can fill it right there quite easily within your organization. Sometimes not. And sometimes it's not expensive to develop that resource. So it's part of that calculated risk. And then the next thing that you need is wise counsel. You know, Proverbs 20 and 18, you've heard me say it before. Plan succeed through good counsel. So you need to have good counsel when we're talking about taking calculated risk. It's so, so important. You know, before you start moving forward with a major risk that you're going to take, you need to make sure you seek some good advisors, make sure you run these scenarios, and then just kind of, you know, look at some of the assumptions that comes out of this. You know, uh Nehemiah is a very good example of this because before rebuilding Jerusalem's wall, the first thing he did, you'll see it in Nehemiah chapter two, around verse 13, he assessed the damage. That was the first thing. Before he ever started, before he ever talked to anybody about it, because wouldn't he have looked foolish if he said, Okay, everybody, let's get together. We're gonna build this wall. I Need you to do this, you to do that, you to do this, and he didn't really assess how bad the damage is and then gets in the middle of it and says, Well, we don't really have the resources to do what's needed. We can't do this. And so, how many people would have followed him if he came back and said, Okay, now I'm ready? So he had to first assess the damage. The next thing he did is he secured the permission that he needed. So he got the permission that he needed. The next thing that he did is he gathered all of the resources, all of the resources, he put all that together. And then he built with protection in place. So he had not only an exit strategy, but he had a strategy for protection of his workers and of the work and and the and the uh uh the the positive uh the work that they were accomplishing so that it could not be destroyed. They had a lot of they had this protection in place. So you know every man had a sword even when he was working. And then at one point he had half the people working, half the people on guard. And so he had to do this and put this in place to protect what was going on. And then he prayed and he planned. And that's really the model. Assess the damage, get the right permissions, gather the resources, build protection in place, and pray and then plan. So use that model. So, how do you protect yourself when you're taking risks? Because that's the other thing. You know, risk protection isn't about eliminating risk. So that's the first thing to understand. Risk protection is not about eliminating risk, it's about building, if I could say it this way, it's like building shock absorbers, right? Um, so first thing you need is you need financial protection. So you need to maintain cash reserves. Uh, you don't want to spend everything you have to do what it is that you need to do that you're taking this risk for. So you need to have cash reserves. You've got to have very conservative debt ratios. That's important. And you need to have some kind of an emergency liquidity. You need to be able, if in an emergency, you can liquidate, you can, you can, you can get your hands on some cash. You know, Joseph in Genesis chapter 41, he stored grain during the abundant years because he knew there were seven years of famine coming or three and a half years of famine coming. So preparation protected Egypt during famine. It was preparation that protected Egypt. And God gave him that. So that's number one, financial protection. Number two is legal and structural protection. You need to make sure you have the proper contracts in place. Insurance coverage. You need to make sure you have clear governance structure. You know, Romans 13 affirms lawful structure and order. And you can see that even all the way up and through the New Testament and all the way into the Old Testament. You see this structure and order. Because protection honors stewardship. The next thing is cultural protection. So you've got to build values that are going to outlast anything that's volatile at all. When downturn hits, the culture is going to determine your resilience. You know, Southwest Airlines survived crisis because their culture remained really, really strong some years ago. So then the next thing you need is spiritual protection. You know, uh, James 1 and 5 says, and if if any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God. Prayer is not passive. It it really helps to align your motives, but your your risk taken for ego collapses, but risk taken in obedience. When you hear from the Lord, it'll sustain. It'll resonate. So we need to have a healthy balance. When we're talking about risk, we need to have a healthy balance. You know, Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that a time there's a time to plant and a time to uproot. Leadership maturity is knowing which season that you're in. You need to know what season that you're in. You know, you need to ask questions like are we protecting our comfort? Are we protecting our calling? Are we avoiding foolish risks or are we avoiding necessary obedience? See, healthy risk kind of sits in between cowardice and recklessness. It's like steering a ship. You know, you can be if if you're too cautious in sh in steering a ship, you begin to drift. If you get too aggressive when you're steering a ship, you could capsize. So wisdom is what holds that rudder safely in the middle and in balance. So here's the bottom line you need to avoid risks that compromise your character. You need to take risks that expand your calling, your purpose, or the vision God's given you. And you need to take calculated risks with wisdom. And then you need to protect risks with preparation. Quality leadership requires courage. But courage without wisdom is chaos. And wisdom without courage is stagnation. Proverbs 16 and 3 says, Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. So risk submitted to God becomes stewardship, and stewardship builds legacy. So be sure you lead with faith, operate with wisdom, take risks, but take them well. Lord, we thank you for ministering to each and every one of us today. Lord, we thank you for your divine wisdom, which we desire and desperately need, Lord, especially when we are assessing a risk and whether it should be taken or not. Lord, help us to apply these biblical principles to our lives, our organizations, our departments, our businesses. Lord, help us to make wise decisions when it comes to risks and find true godly success. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Well, thanks again for downloading this week's podcast and listening. And again, I wish you well and I'm praying for you, and I'm praying that God blesses you and blesses your business or organization. Well, that's all the time we have for today. So next time, until next time, remember, Jesus is Lord and He wants you blessed.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

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