If you have a co-worker who’s risk-averse, telling them to “just think positive” or just trust you” rarely works. Risk-avoidant folks aren’t irrational; they are often reacting to well-earned caution, fear of failure, perfectionism or deeply held beliefs about accountability.
Instead of lecturing about the potential rewards, you can use your emotional intelligence (EI) to help them approach risk in a more thoughtful, sustainable way. Here’s a practical, people-first approach:
Build Emotional Safety
Change is hard when people feel threatened or judged. Start by showing you see and respect their caution. Risk aversion often has roots in past experiences or perfectionism. Psychological safety isn’t a buzzword—it’s the bedrock of real change.
Example: “You’ve been thorough for a reason. That caution has value. Considering this risk isn’t about being reckless—it’s about giving ourselves more options.”
Are there situations in the past in which you proposed risks and failed? If so, is this proposition any different and how? How did you learn from that prior experience so as not to repeat that mistake?
Point out the pros and cons on paper or in some graphic form to help your colleague process what you’re asking. If risk-taking or decision-making is particularly difficult for them, the emotional tension could make it hard to hold all the factors in their head at once.
Why Leaders Need to Make It Safe to Speak Up (McKinsey)
Explore Their Emotional Narrative
People don’t just avoid risk because of data—they’re responding to the story they tell themselves about it. Get curious instead of persuasive. When telling their story out loud they may see the flaws in their argument and reconsider.
Ask them questions like:
“What outcome worries you most?”
“Has something in your past shaped how you see this?”
This kind of reflective listening helps them unpack assumptions.
Many see risk-taking as recklessness. Without minimizing our denying their fears, help them see it instead as a leadership responsibility: demonstrating courage and modeling adaptability.
You can say:
“If you’re feeling uneasy, that’s a sign you’re trying something new. It doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision.” Instead, help them accept that discomfort is part of growth.
“Give the team a chance to see how you handle uncertainty.”
It’s not about gambling—it’s about leading the team through the unknown fully aware of the possibility of encountering bumps in the road as we move forward.
Further reading:
Brené Brown on Leadership and Vulnerability
Leading in Uncertainty (MIT Sloan)
Make It a Small, Safe Experiment
You’re not asking them to bet the farm. Co-design a low-stakes trial:
“What’s one small way we could test this?”
“How can we make this feel safer to try?”
This approach mirrors complexity leadership’s “safe-to-fail” experiments, making risk manageable instead of overwhelming.
Help them connect risk-taking to purpose or legacy:
“What decision would you be proud of when you look back?”
“What example do you want to set for your team?”
Meaning turns fear into motivation.
Further reading:
Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why”
The Power of Purpose in Business (McKinsey)
A Note on Listening
None of this works without truly listening. Helping someone work through risk-aversion requires patience, empathy, and the skill of making them feel heard.
If you want to go deeper on how to listen in a way that creates trust and change, my book The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction offers practical, time-tested guidance.
Summary
Emotional intelligence isn’t just a leadership add-on. It’s what turns discomfort into growth. By listening, validating, reframing, and co-creating safe experiments, you can help even the most risk-averse colleagues take thoughtful, strategic risks.
Reflect on this question: What kind of risk-taking culture do I want to create? Write down 2–3 ways you can encourage healthy, strategic risk-taking in your team this quarter. Share it with your co-founders or leadership team.
Need help with these difficult conversations? Reach out to me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com. Visit www.MindfulCommunication.com
Election cycles, particularly during periods of heightened political tension, can create a ripple effect in businesses. For founders, the need to demonstrate effective leadership goes beyond managing the day-to-day operations or guiding strategic direction; it includes mastering emotional self-regulation, especially in turbulent times. How Americans Feel About the Election: Anxious and Scared – The New York Times
Here are some ways founders can lead with resilience and poise, cultivating a sense of stability within their teams to prevent post-election strife from impacting their business.
Be a Model of Calm and Composure
A founder’s ability to stay calm in stressful times can set the tone for the entire organization. Employees look to leadership for cues on how to respond to challenges, and when a founder demonstrates composure, it can foster a sense of stability. If emotions are running high due to societal uncertainty, a founder’s level-headedness can be a powerful reminder that the business remains a safe and focused place.
How? Founders can practice mindfulness techniques, like deep breathing or meditation, particularly before addressing the team. By managing their own emotional responses first, founders not only avoid transmitting stress to their employees but also become role models for handling external pressures constructively.
Cultivate Empathy and Mindful Listening
Employees come from diverse backgrounds, and each person may be experiencing different levels of anxiety, uncertainty, or even disagreement on the current events. As a leader, empathizing with these varied reactions is essential. Emotional self-regulation means being aware of one’s own emotional biases and checking them at the door, creating a safe environment for employees. The Zen of Listening Hour – Mindful Communication
How? Demonstrate empathy by validating a co-worker’s feelings or acknowledging the challenges they face. Practicing Mindful Listening by giving your full attention during conversations can help employees feel heard and supported. (Amazon.com : the zen of listening).
Set Boundaries to Maintain Focus on Core Values and Goals
In times of post-election tension, it’s easy for conversations to veer into divisive topics, potentially creating friction within teams. Founders who model self-regulation understand the importance of setting boundaries that keep discussions professional and aligned with company values.
How? A clear communication strategy can be helpful. Remind employees of the organization’s core values and encourage everyone to focus on shared goals. Acknowledge the social climate without necessarily delving into contentious topics, which can help maintain unity and a sense of purpose. It’s about reinforcing that, while the outside world may feel unpredictable, the company’s mission and dedication to its values remain steadfast.
When times are tough, adopting a solutions-oriented mindset is essential for emotional resilience. As the leader, a founder who remains calm under pressure and promotes problem-solving will empower the team to seek constructive ways forward rather than getting bogged down by stress.
How? Encourage brainstorming sessions to address any operational disruptions caused by external events. This approach not only helps solve immediate challenges but also reinforces a culture of resilience. By modeling optimism and the ability to pivot, founders can inspire their teams to focus on what’s within their control and avoid a defeatist mindset.
Model Self-Care as a Tool for Emotional Resilience
Modeling self-care to the team and normalizing it as a vital part of work life is crucial. A leader needs to be prepared for drama as every employee will process the election results differently. Founders, in an effort to avoid conflict may yield to the pressure to allow highly reactive employees time off, or to postpone deadlines to recover from the election. The less affected team members may feel resentment towards those who are granted concessions.
How? When founders openly practice self-care, they give their teams permission to prioritize their well-being, which fosters a healthier work environment. Share how you are being particularly conscientious about your workout, sleep and diet routines to handle the transition. Encourage co-workers to join you for a walk at lunchtime. Invite a yoga or a meditation instructor for a lunchtime stress reduction class.
Use Transparent and Reassuring Communication
During times of uncertainty, rumors and misinformation can fuel anxiety. Founders should practice transparent communication, sharing relevant updates about the business and the steps being taken to navigate potential challenges. Reassuring communication is both honest and empathetic, addressing concerns directly without unnecessary alarm.
How? Regular updates can help employees feel informed and secure. Even if the updates are simple acknowledgments of ongoing circumstances, transparency can cultivate trust and alleviate some of the stress that arises from the unknown. This approach not only demonstrates leadership but also models a mature, balanced way to process uncertainty.
In challenging times, a founder’s leadership is as much about emotional intelligence as it is about business acumen. Demonstrating self-regulation, focus and resilience in the face of external turmoil sets the tone for the entire organization, creating a stabilizing force that employees can look to for guidance. By embodying calmness, empathy, focus, and transparency, founders can not only steer their businesses through turbulent times but also build a work culture founded on emotional resilience. Read more:
Developing Emotional Intelligence for Leaders – This article by Verywell Mind explores emotional intelligence, focusing on why it’s critical for leaders and how components like self-regulation support effective leadership.
Managing Anxiety in the Workplace – This article from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) provides strategies for leaders to manage team anxiety, particularly valuable in high-stress periods.
Need help with communicating and coaching co-workers to manage their emotional self-regulation? Contact me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
On Sunday at the grocery store, I saw a guy wearing a T-shirt that said: MY SUPERPOWER is ADHD. Wow, I thought to myself, someone actually boasting about having ADHD! Of course, I gave him a thumbs-up, and he returned the gesture with a big smile.
In the workplace, there’s still a considerable stigma surrounding ADHD and neurodiversity in general. Many neurodiverse employees feel pressured to conform to the norm, often masking their needs and adopting unnatural behaviors. Acting “normal” consumes so much energy, detracting from their actual work and reducing their ability to perform at their best. This often leads to performance improvement plans (PIPs), stress, and burnout.
In CoreCoaching, I encourage my clients who have faced disappointment in previous jobs due to their efforts to fit in to be upfront in interviews, promoting their strengths with gusto and acknowledging their weaknesses. In my conversations with managers and C-suite executives, it is seen as a sign of strength and a mark of courage to highlight these features from the start. It shows that you care about the company’s success and how your contribution can be significant. Unfortunately, in most cases, these admissions often come too late, after several reprimands and lost revenue.
Removing The Stigma Of Neurodiversity Promoting your superpowers is one of the best ways to remove the stigma of neurodiversity and ADHD in particular. Once you accept and appreciate your ADHD, you realize that, despite its shortcomings (and who doesn’t have shortcomings?), you can be an asset, not a burden, to an organization.
Take Ricardo, for example, a software engineer who landed a great position at a startup. Tired of hiding his ADHD as he had done at other companies, Ricardo got COREageous and told the founders at the interview, “Hey folks, pattern recognition and solving perplexing problems is my thing. Bring it on. By the way, my crunch time is usually from 2 am to 6 am, when I deliver my best results. Therefore, if you’re okay with that, we as a team can work almost 24 hours a day, even though we are all in the same country. But I’ll be upfront to tell you that admin stuff, like CRM and sending out invoices, is not my thing.” Bravo Ricardo!
The founders’ reaction? They appreciated knowing from the get-go what Ricardo’s strengths were and were not. Imagine the savings in terms of time, money, and aggravation from knowing how Ricardo can perform best for the company. This way, Ricardo is free to spend his energy making the startup successful, and let others who do admin well, do admin.
Think about your superpowers and how an organization can benefit from them. Give examples of how your ability to hyperfocus or thrive in chaos can positively impact the bottom line. Be forthright about what is not your forte, giving credit to those who are more efficient in those aspects.
Carina Lomberg, an associate professor and researcher at the Technical University of Denmark, claims that entrepreneurs are generally more accepting of neurodiversity than established workplaces because of the hustle and ‘can-do’ mentality. However, her research into conflict in startups reveals that when teams “sweep problems under the rug,” these are the teams that eventually fall apart. Team breakdown is one of the most common reasons for startup failure.
Talia D. a wannabe COREageous entrepreneur from Bloomington, Indiana writes: I wrote up a business plan for a service startup, hailed by my professors and my mentor as ‘a winner.’ But they advised that I need to be more confident in myself to pull it off. How do I begin building more confidence?
The proposition of starting a business can be overwhelming. Plus, knowing the dismal startup failure rate takes another jab at your ability to “pull it off.”
The good news is that your team is confident in the plan – you’re surrounding yourself with supportive folks you trust for good advice and constructive criticism.
Whether you are a newbie to entrepreneurship or a seasoned self-starter, confidence is a major factor in startup success. Here are a few ways to scale up your confidence:
If you’ve had any past failures that made you doubt yourself, label those events as “valuable data” to draw on for the future: naiveté, assumptions, blind passion, impulsive decisions, etc. What matters is how you view them.
Capitalize on your strengths i.e. your industry knowledge, your attention to detail, etc. Accept your gaps and outsource or partner up with someone who can fill them.
Go Micro and break down the big tasks into bit goals. Most tasks are less daunting and more do-able when they are broken into manageable steps.
On a personal level, challenge yourself to do something difficult every day – 5 extra slow pushups, wake up a half hour earlier than usual, make that awkward phone call, or give blood. Whatever challenge you take on make it reasonable and a bit beyond what you think you could do.
As always, if you want to learn more about CoreCoaching with me, email Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
Talia D. a wannabe COREageous entrepreneur from Bloomington, Indiana writes: I wrote up a business plan for a service startup, hailed by my professors and my mentor as ‘a winner.’ But they advised that I need to be more confident in myself to pull it off. How do I begin building more confidence?
The proposition of starting a business can be overwhelming. Plus, knowing the dismal startup failure rate takes another jab at your ability to “pull it off.”
The good news is that your team is confident in the plan – you’re surrounding yourself with supportive folks you trust for good advice and constructive criticism.
Whether you are a newbie to entrepreneurship or a seasoned self-starter, confidence is a major factor in startup success. Here are a few ways to scale up your confidence:
If you’ve had any past failures that made you doubt yourself, label those events as “valuable data” to draw on for the future: naiveté, assumptions, blind passion, impulsive decisions, etc. What matters is how you view them.
Capitalize on your strengths i.e. your industry knowledge, your attention to detail, etc. Accept your gaps and outsource or partner up with someone who can fill them.
Go Micro and break down the big tasks into bit goals. Most tasks are less daunting and more do-able when they are broken into manageable steps.
On a personal level, challenge yourself to do something difficult every day – 5 extra slow pushups, wake up a half hour earlier than usual, make that awkward phone call, or give blood. Whatever challenge you take on make it reasonable and a bit beyond what you think you could do.
As always, if you want to learn more about CoreCoaching with me, email Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
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Talia D. a wannabe COREageous entrepreneur from Bloomington, Indiana writes: I wrote up a business plan for a service startup, hailed by my professors and my mentor as ‘a winner.’ But they advised that I need to be more confident in myself to pull it off. How do I begin building more confidence? 
"It takes more than courage to be an Entrepreneur, it takes CORE."