Creating Passionate Users: Death by risk-aversion

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/01/death_by_riskav.html

This is a hugely important article, and was eerily well-timed to appear in my life this week. Not only does it touch on the rant I posted earlier (see second paragraph of quote), it also comes to me when I’m contemplating taking the risk of moving into a new job. I’ve had a few people try to talk me out of it, but very little of their cold-feet fear has rubbed off on me. I feel that, in the past few years, I’ve become more flexible with taking risks or meeting new challenges, and I notice work-life stagnation faster than I used to. The fear of being stuck in my current position is greater than the fear of the unknown surrounding a new job. It’s taken me a long time to get to this point, and I don’t want to regress to the old, scared me. Life is short; It’s time to take some chances.Risk-aversion is the single biggest innovation killer, and of course it’s not just Microsoft that’s been infected. Taking risks is… risky. But if not taking risks is even riskier, then WTF?…

Blogging has not made this easier… if anything, the idea that a gazillion bloggers and commenters (or even ONE loud one) will seize any opportunity to find fault with your ideas and attempts can dampen one’s willingness to be brave. So here’s my quarterly reminder to all (me included) that if you’re not doing something that someone hates, it’s probably mediocre.

This entry was posted in Relationships and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.