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It’s Only Common Sense: Avoiding Risk Is Dangerous

When you ask a kindergarten class to raise their hands if they are artists, all off them will because they believe that they are. Flash forward 10 years to a class of high school students and ask them how many are artists, and only a smattering of brave souls will raise their hands.

Why is that? It’s simple; they have been trained not to stand out, to hunker down and become part of society. Which, of course, is what public school was designed to do in the first place—make everyone into functioning members of society. Pretty horrid, isn’t it? But sadly, all too true.

Now, think about your company; how many times a day, week, or year does someone in your organization come up with something that is truly innovative? Be honest now; it’s not often, right? And even when someone does come up with a good idea during a brainstorming session, everyone else will strain their brain to find flaws with it. The first comments will be the reasons why this innovative idea won’t work.

I’ve seen it happen over and over again. I can convince a company to send out a series of newsletters to target companies with whom they want to do business. They’ll send out 2,000 newsletters per month with an open rate of over 10% (yes, 200 people out of 2,000 is very good.) And out of the 2,000 people that receive the newsletter, one customer will complain about it. They might express that they receive too many newsletters, or they might not agree with something that was stated in the newsletter. Whatever the complaint is, they tell a salesperson, who tells company management, and suddenly, that one complaint becomes their sole focus. Management will even consider stopping the newsletter plan because one person complained. Talk about living in fear and letting the proverbial tail wag the dog! But don’t laugh because I see it every day.

We all love innovation, yet we are terrified at the thought of being innovators. We fear failure so much that we would rather do nothing than fail. But if you look at our great inventors, they failed all the time. Thomas Edison failed over a thousand times before he successfully developed a light bulb that would work longer than a few seconds. American baseball player Ted Williams—who is considered that greatest batter of all times—failed six out of 10 times at bat. And professional hockey player Wayne Gretzky never made a shot he didn’t take.

Why are we so scared to try? What makes us want to play it safe all the time? I spend a great deal of my life trying to push people out of their comfort zones, so I know how hard it is; heck, I spend a lot of my time mentally lifting myself out of my own comfort zone. Comfort zones are warm, cozy, and worry-free; well, they’re comfortable.

Stuff happens, and customers do not stay the same; they are bought, merge, or go out of business. On average, most companies lose 20–30% percent of their customers each year by attrition. That statistic should be enough to set your butt afire so that you jump right out of that comfort zone. William S. Burroughs’ quote, “When you stop growing, you start dying,” has never been truer. The world is changing faster than it ever has before. The best way to handle change is to change!

But nothing gets done in a comfort zone. For example, if you say that you have all of the business you need, but ask why you should come up with a new marketing plan or sales initiative, you are going to fail. No matter how great a job you feel you’re doing, it will not sustain you at the level that you need to stay in business if you’re not open to change. You need to consider new and innovative ideas, not automatically dismiss them.

If something scares you, do it anyway. What is the worst that can happen? Unless you’re a pilot or a brain surgeon, failure is seldom fatal. In fact, some of the greatest and most innovative ideas, inventions, and positive changes on this planet have come out of failures. Do not be afraid to fail; in the end, you will succeed. Get out there and try something new today, and if you fail, try again, and again, and again. Then, you will become one of the great innovators in your field.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.