By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
What does it mean to be a risk taker at work? For many people, the idea of asking for a raise, going for a big promotion, or taking on a challenging project is daunting, but these are exactly the types of actions that risk-taking employees, especially women, should be doing in order to drive their career advancement in the right direction. Previous studies on risk appetite have indicated that women generally do not take as many risks as men, but is this hypothesis true, and does it apply to business women in a corporate setting?
In a recent working paper, researchers at Tufts University suggest that the idea that women are more risk averse than men needs to be revisited. The paper’s author, Julie A. Nelson, states, “Taken as a bald statement, the statement might be taken as indicating something that is universally true for every individual member of the classes ‘women’ and ‘men.’ In this case, it would have to be true that every individual woman is more risk averse than every individual man. This exceedingly strong implication is not likely intended by those who write such statements, since just one example of a cautious man and a bold woman disproves it.”
According to the research, not all women are more risk averse than men. It suggests why we shouldn’t base our assumptions of women in business on stereotypes – which exactly why we must move beyond tokenism in diversity hiring.