Risk Taking – A Myth

Risk Taking – A Myth


People NEVER take Risk!!!…


This certainly sounds like an incorrect statement, people obviously take Risks, some take small, some big, some take calculated risks, etc… ‘Risk’ or say ‘Uncertainty’ is a pat of common sense… Well, I dunno, I don’t think it is so… Let’s find out what exactly ‘Risk’ is…

As Wikipedia describes ‘Risk’… Risk is the potential of gaining or losing something of value…

This certainly makes sense, but the question here is… ‘With Respect to Whom?’

I saw an interesting video on YouTube, titled ‘Leadership and Decision-making in the Face of Great Risk’ by Dutch Leonard – Harvard Kennedy School. Taking some insight from that… I’ll share a something about Dan Osman… As Wikipedia describes him… Daniel Eugene Osman was an American extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sports of free-soloing, rock climbing without ropes or other safety gear. He participated in rope free-flying or rope jumping, falling several hundred feet from a cliff then being caught by a safety rope, for which his record was over 1,000 feet (300 m).

He used to climb rocky mountain without safety gear… Man! That sounds risky… I wouldn’t do that for sure… :-)

Of course we all find it too ‘Risky’… I asked this is one of my sessions, if we were to perform such a task, what all parameters we would take into consideration? People had various ideas to check the grip, weather, wind speed, comfortable clothes, good health, stamina, etc., etc., etc…. once we had list of all required parameters and all boxes checked for the ‘Required Situation’, people still may not be too confident to begin the climb… Because they find it too ‘Risky’…

Leaving the above thought right there, I’ll draw attention to another discussion in one of the sessions… People who can perform a wheelie on bike were requested not to participate in the discussion and others were asked to make a list of parameters one should consider for ‘Required Situation’ before performing wheelie on bike… Participants happily shared their opinion about tyre grip, road quality, speed, weather, day-light, etc., etc., etc…. After the list was prepared, those who could perform wheelie on bike were asked if they considered ALL of these parameters accurately EVERY time they attempted and surprisingly the answer was NO… They did keep in mind few parameters broadly, but most of it just used to be an ‘Inner Voice’ guiding… The ‘Inner Voice’ telling them whether they should attempt or not… They NEVER attempted wheelie when their ‘Inner Voice’ asked them not to, even if all the so called ‘Required Situation’ was perfect…

Coming back to Dan Osman, something that we find super ‘Risky’ was something he did very casually…


Do look at this video taken from YouTube…



What is the distinction here which makes something so ‘Risky’ almost a daily affair for some???...

Trying to answer this question, reflecting on my own experiences, I could relate to my driving habit… I love speed, on one of the instances, I was driving a small car (Chevrolet Beat) and the speedometer crossed about 170 km/hr!!!... My wife sitting next to me was shit scared… Often people sharing ride with me find me reckless maniac when I drive with my heart out… On the other hand, I find them super overreacting and panicky for something so subtle… I find it romantic to be with my car at such speeds, as if we’re in eternal love with each other, we understand each other so so sooooo well….

Eureka! On this clarifies the distinction… My Relationship with cars is different and strong… As is Relationship of Dan Osman with Rocky Mountains or those people who can perform wheelie on bike…

I’ve seen my mom cook food and while making chapattis, she at times uses her bare hands to turn the chapatti while on stove… I find it Super Risky, but that’s her daily job…

People NEVER take any Risk, they do something ONLY when their ‘Inner Voice’ is convinced to do it… I would not chose to drive fast or people would not chose to perform wheelie or my mom would not put her bare hands in stove unless we are confident it is ‘NOT RISKY’ (subconsciously / inner-voice)…..

Human Mind is very ‘Smart’ and we trying to contain everything we know in certain fixed parameters is when we look at things from our perspective… What I find Risky, my mom doesn’t…. What my wife finds Risky, I do not… What we all find Risky, Dan Osman may not… What people in the session found Risky, those performing wheelie did not…

Risk = Uncertainty
Risk = Perceived Uncertainty
Risk = Lack of experience

I heard this somewhere that Napoleon used to appoint ‘Lucky Generals’ for battles, why would he do that???...

When we look at Leaders attempting to ‘Control’ or ‘Manage’ their people often look at people skills from their perspective… What they do not understand or cannot comprehend ‘Feels Uncertain’ to them, hence they term it ‘Risky’… Lesser is their knowledge and expertise about something, higher is the ‘Perceived Risk’ in that matter…

Leadership decision making in face of ‘Risk’ is about evaluating ‘Risk with respect to whom?’

Talking about last thing before wrapping up…. Those sharing strong relationships with what they do well may also fail… The advice from ‘Inner Voice’ may not give desired outcome… All we can do is ‘Make your inner Voice Smarter’…. Give yourself as much experience as you can, as much exposure as you can and when it comes to deciding ‘How Much is Too Much?’ listen to your ‘Inner Voice’, that is the BEST advise available to you in the world…




Wishing you a Peaceful Life!

Deep Mody
A Change Leader
Helping Humans do what they do the best – Be Human


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