[Blog] High-Impact, High-Risk Positions

by Sam Chand

Whenever I go to an office or church, I see people in the lobby; I see people in the parking lot: employees, volunteers, people who are assigned there. These are what I call high impact/high risk people.

The person who is working in the parking lot is a high impact—high risk. How they treat the people who are coming in is high impact. As an executive, you’re placing a lot of risk on that person. The usher; the greeter; the receptionist—the lowest-paid people have the highest impact, and hence, the highest risk.

I am astonished that leaders do not connect the dots here. They are not cognizant of the fact that the people representing them—who make the first impression—are a big risk. Often, they fail to evaluate whether this risk is paying off in the long run.

I see people in parking lots with lousy attitudes. I see people who are ushers and greeters who don’t know how to usher or greet. I go to customer care counters, and there is no customer care. I see people on the front line, who hold their company’s brand in their hand more than anybody else, squandering this opportunity.

Today, I want to challenge you to take an inventory of the people who are high impact in your organization—the level of risk you’re taking with them, and if it’s commensurate to the payoff you’re receiving from them. If a high impact person is not worth taking the risk over, then you need to make some hard decisions. Otherwise, your high impact can go in a negative direction. Take inventory of the high impact/high risk people in your organization.