When we reframe our understanding of risk to anticipate the unknown and the unexpected, we open ourselves up to asking more open-minded questions that ultimately, help us overcome our bias for safety. We move away from entrenched modalities and begin thinking like a start-up.

Experts emphasize the importance of living a “heart-heathy” lifestyle – regular exercise, good diet and stress-management practices – to reduce our risk of heart disease. The same basic idea applies to a business. One of the three ways to increase the value or “health” of a company is to reduce risk. This just so happens to come with the added benefit of reducing business owner stress in the long run.

Cindy Reid-Shelton appeared on Poised for Exit with Julie Keyes to talk about the importance of contingency planning for businesses.