deciding 5.15. What lesson can you take away from the example of the young man who invested in the coffee business? 5.16. Describe some creative risks that you can take the next time that you search for a new jobAs we have just seen, risk taking is essential if maj made. The question for you is this: "Will you be able to have or develop a mind will allow you to take risks, or will you be like the manager at Xerox who did not mar- ket the Alto?" To help develop a risk-taking mindset, practice taking small risks when- ever possible, such as volunteering to speak at a conference or meeting, challenging established patterns of doing business in your organization, or trying a new sport. Cautions Do not take risks just for the sake of saying that you are a risk taker! You must be willing to live with the consequences if what you hope for doesn't come through. The Risk of Risk Taking A young man just out of college had saved up $15,000 during his first two years of working and was looking for an investment opportunity. He saw himself as rather conservative, but wanted to change and become more of a risk taker. He saw an advertisement for a coffee company based in Florida that was offering franchises that would make investors thousands of dollars in their spare time. The company distributed single-pot servings of ground-flavored coffee in individual packets, and it claimed that some of the flavorings for the coffee could not be found anywhere else. When the young man contacted the company, he learned that for $10,000 he could buy a franchise for his area. With that initial investment, he would receive $4000 worth of coffee bags and 20 display cases for the coffee. The next step was for the investor to contact local stores to place the coffee, giving 20% of the profits to each storeowner. For an extra $3000, the company owner in Florida promised to fly to his area for 3 days to help him place the coffee in at least 12 stores. After placing the cases, all that the new franchise owner had to do was to check each store on a regular basis, replenish the coffee packets that had been sold, and collect his profits. When his supply of the coffee bought for $4000 was depleted, the company owner would sell him another batch of coffee. According to the company, such a franchise was a surefire way to double the investor's money in a year.RISK TAKING 105 The young man decided to take the plunge and buy a franchise. He paid $13,000 to the company owner and, within the next month, the display cases with the coffee were placed in 12 stores in the area. After a week, the new franchise owner went to check his coffee stations and replenish the coffee that had been purchased in each of the stores. To his surprise, not nearly as much coffee had been purchased during the first week as he was led to believe would happen. When the young man returned to the stores a week later, he found that even less coffee was purchased in the second week than in the first. He then went back a month after the initial placement, but found that less than half of the coffee he had originally placed had been sold. The franchise owner still had a closet full of coffee from the initial amount supplied by the owner. This trend continued for several months, but it became apparent that the franchise owner was unlikely to recover even 80% of his investment. Shortly thereafter, the young man stopped checking the stores to replenish the coffee. He wound up giving away the remaining coffee, which filled his closet. He had taken a risk and lost about $12,000 of his investment. In this case, the young man had not anticipated that the coffee franchise company was inflating the possibility for profit and was not prepared to support his effort. He did not recognize that this investment would not be a good match given the time and energy he was willing to commit. More research and thoughtful consideration up- front might have prevented this loss. The prudent use of risk taking can be a powerful tool for successful problem solving. In Chapter 7, we will discuss a technique called potential problem analy- sis that can be used to identify the possible downside to problem solutions that may involve risk