Trust Your Cape, Part 1: The Difference Between Risk and Recklessness

One of my favorite songs is The Cape by Guy Clark, about a boy who believes he can fly… and keeps trying all his life to make it happen.

For me, the cape has become a metaphor for strategic risk. There’s a difference between taking a risk and taking a reckless leap. One is grounded in thoughtfulness; the other is grounded in wishful thinking.

In business and leadership, we often talk about “stretch goals” — ambitious objectives that require us to operate beyond what we already know how to do. The goal isn’t to eliminate risk. It’s to understand it well enough to decide which risks are worth taking.

And that requires a little more than courage.

It requires knowing your resources. Knowing your people. Knowing your capabilities. And perhaps most importantly, knowing your capacity.

Before I take a big leap, I want to know: What do I have working in my favor? What could go wrong? What would I need to make this possible? Where are my gaps? Who could help me close them?

That’s not talking yourself out of the leap. It’s building a runway for it.

I’m a believer in Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAGs). But a BHAG without a strategy is nothing more than a dream with a deadline.

Sometimes, we need someone to tell us, “Don’t jump.” And sometimes we need someone to help us figure out how to build the wings.

The coaching question isn’t always, “Is this realistic?” Sometimes it’s, “What would make this possible?”

That’s when I think it might be time to trust your cape.