Play Within Your Bankroll to Increase Your Risk Tolerance
In poker, your bankroll represents how much money you’ve set aside exclusively to play.
Former World Series of Poker champion, author and decision strategist Annie Duke says that you should always play within your bankroll. If you have $2,000 in your pocket but have bills and outgoings totalling $1,500 then you don’t have $2,000 to play with, you have $500, and you should not play beyond that.
By playing within your bankroll you’re less likely to fall victim to the sunk cost bias - our tendency to chase our losses - or to bet more than you can afford to lose.
How much are you willing to lose?
This is a powerful question, not only insofar as poker is concerned, but equally as far as innovation and life is concerned.
Today’s business landscape is incredibly ambiguous and uncertain, thanks in part to the rapid change that Moore’s Law has underpinned and shifting political and economic realities. With growing uncertainty and information asymmetry comes growing risk. At large organisations, this comes with the tendency to outsource accountability to bloated, slow-moving mechanisms like steering committees, and ultimately stop short of making a decision; the dreaded paralysis by analysis - not making a decision for fear of it being the wrong one and having adverse consequences.
The thing about not making a decision and not investing in innovation is that the decision to not do anything often precedes a company’s demise.
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The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.
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