I once had a salesperson pull our team aside and say “let’s not use the word risk, okay?”
……
After seeing the look of immense confusion on my face he added,
“You know, the word risk might turn them off.”
Turn them off… to what exactly?
Did he think they didn’t know what risk was?
Or that they thought their product and setup was perfect?
[It wasn’t, by the way]
Or… did he just hate board games?
[I mean if it’s Monopoly then I get it]
I asked him a few times but never got a clear answer,
But it got me to thinking – why worry about being aware of risks?
When we drive, we see a car ahead of us and think,
“What will I do if they pull in front of me.”
That’s being aware of risk – is that a bad thing?
At the office, we see cables laying across the floor and think,
“Yikes – what would happen if someone tripped on those.”
That’s being aware of risk – is that a bad thing?
Can you imagine a driving instructor saying,
“Please don’t mention what others drivers may do in case it scares you away from driving.”
Or someone in the office saying,
“Don’t mention those cables or someone might look for them and worry about tripping.”
I’ve never searched for risks out of fear,
Only so I can implement the best strategy to solve them or use them to an advantage.
So if I hear, “we don’t talk about risk” again, I’ll wonder
Is that actually the bigger risk?
