["Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nResearch on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance usually treats it as an aggregate capability that lowers firm risk and pays little attention to how evenly a firm develops across the three pillars. We examine ESG imbalance, defined as pronounced unevenness in a firm's environmental, social, and governance development, and ask how it affects corporate risk‐taking and whether this effect depends on CEOs' early‐life experiences. Using a panel of 15,570 firm‐year observations on Chinese A‐share listed firms from 2006 to 2024, we find that ESG imbalance raises corporate risk‐taking, reflected in higher net leverage and lower cash holdings. Drawing on imprinting theory, we use the Great Chinese Famine as an exogenous shock and show that this amplifying effect is muted among firms led by CEOs who experienced early‐life scarcity. The famine imprint thus shapes how executives respond to structural ESG risk, acting as a cognitive buffer rather than a uniform tendency toward caution. In doing so, the study extends imprinting theory to the setting of ESG governance and corporate risk‐taking and shows that the direction of an early‐life imprint depends on the nature of the adversity, with chronic scarcity fostering preservation rather than risk‐seeking. These findings caution against relying on aggregate ESG ratings and point to the value of structural balance across the E, S, and G dimensions for corporate governance and sustainable finance.\n"]