The Risk Factor: Why Every Organization Needs Big Bets, Bold Characters, and the Occasional Spectacular Failure

Though Piscione (Secrets of Silicon Valley) brings infectious excitement about the corporate value of risk to her latest business guide, she is less successful in imparting specifics. Humans are innate “risk takers,” Piscione declares, but risk has become a bad thing—except, perhaps, in Silicon Valley, where risk is pervasive and failure isn’t a black mark; it’s often a “badge of honor.” Piscione’s best at defining and describing her main subject, including some fascinating genetic components to risk-taking behavior. But, she admits, it’s easy to talk about change and quite another to do it. Describe your company culture in three words, she suggests, something Google has done well, but might not be as easy for the average corporate team. Creating a “culture of how,” Piscione writes, might include the “death of HR”— potentially valuable advice for a large corporation but less so for a small one, which may not even have an HR department. Still, Piscione’s description of what can happen at companies that embrace risk (NetApp, Qualcomm, Intuit) may be inspiring enough for some readers to compensate for the book’s detail-light approach. [em](Dec.) [/em]