When I first founded GoodData, one of our early investors shared his life motto with me: Always make new mistakes — with an emphasis on new. As we’ve grown, I’ve always come back to this idea, the kind of mindset that enables companies to become market disruptors.

It’s important to me to build a company with a culture that supports risk-taking and rewards employees for pursuing new ideas. Not only is it a personal philosophy but data supports the importance of risk-taking. The CEO Genome Project, a 10-year study of high-performing CEOs, found that CEOs who considered setbacks to be failures had a 50% smaller chance of thriving (registration required). The question is: How does a CEO who may not be comfortable taking risks start doing so?

It can be a challenge to adopt that mindset and convince both yourself and others that it’s necessary to take a risk — however calculated it may be — instead of playing it safe. In a recent Deloitte study, this skill is referred to as “emotional fortitude,” defined as the ability to “combine a sober assessment of potential risks and roadblocks with the fearlessness to pursue lofty visions.” In the survey, it’s listed as one of the five key traits of CEOs who are “undisruptable.” These CEOs excel at anticipating, responding to and adapting to today’s cycle of market disruption. Becoming an executive who accepts risk-taking and creates an environment that supports it is easier said than done. By its very nature, some risks will yield a substantial reward and some will not, and it’s that fear of failure that causes many executives to shut down any attempts to take a calculated risk.

As CEO of GoodData, I emphasize three values to foster the kind of environment where it’s okay to take risks: transparency, communication and allowing my employees to make new mistakes.

Transparency

Transparency is vitally important to an organization, but it seems to become less and less achievable as a company grows, more management levels are added and messages become distorted or watered down as they are transmitted. Full transparency keeps employees in the loop about what’s being done and what the company’s goals are for the future, but it also helps employees feel empowered. When no one is excluded or deemed too low-level to be privy to information, employees both understand why something is being done and realize how valuable they are to the team. At GoodData, I try to make things as transparent as possible so that we all have access to the same information.

Communication

Second, communication ensures that everyone is working towards the same common key performance indicators (KPIs) and company goals. After quarterly executive leadership meetings and board meetings, I share goals for the quarter based on conversations and decisions made during those sessions. Beyond these formal company-wide meetings or town halls, this need to communicate extends to informal meetings, casual conversations and even making an effort, as the CEO, to be a visible part of the company. This frequent communication reinforces the company’s goals and keeps executives, management and employees aligned. In addition, this level of interaction builds better relationships between employees and management, creating a culture where employees feel they can bring new ideas to the table instead of worrying that they won’t be heard.