Seth's Blog : A parody of yourself

A parody of yourself

A simple test for brands, organizations and individuals:

When you exaggerate the things that people associate with you, your presence and your contribution, does it make you a better version of yourself?

       

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• The two risk mistakes
• It happens around the edges
• Scientist, Engineer and Operations Manager
• Conservation and concentration of effort
• Enough small moments

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Seth's Blog : The two risk mistakes

The two risk mistakes

Risk mistake number one: Risk means failure.

This worldview equates any risk, no matter how slim, with a certainty. If the chances of hurting yourself skydiving are 1%, it's easy to ignore the 99% likelihood that it will go beautifully.

If you carry this worldview around, you're not going to take many risks, because your fundamental misunderstanding is that whatever is uncertain is bad.

Risk mistake number two: Low risk events don't happen.

This is the stock investor who freaks out when the market doesn't go up the way he and everyone else expected it to. The reason that some investments offer higher returns is that they're not guaranteed to work. Implicit in that high return, then, is the clear warning that sometimes, you won't get what you're hoping for.

I'm not distinguishing between optimism and pessimism. The optimist is well aware of risks, but deep down, she believes that things are going to get better. The risk-blind individual, though, is willfully (or perhaps ignorantly) unaware of what risk actually is.

Most of the things that we do have two possible outcomes: they might work or they might not. Being able to live with the possibility of either is essential if we're going to move forward.

       

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More Recent Articles

• It happens around the edges
• Scientist, Engineer and Operations Manager
• Conservation and concentration of effort
• Enough small moments
• "I think we are an outfit headed for extinction"

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Seth's Blog : It happens around the edges

It happens around the edges

At any gathering of people, from a high school assembly to the General Assembly at the UN, from a conference to a rehearsal at the orchestra, the really interesting conversations and actions almost always happen around the edges.

If you could eavesdrop on the homecoming queen or the sitting prime minister, you'd hear very little of value. These folks think they have too much to lose to do something that feels risky, and everything that's interesting is risky.

Change almost always starts at the edges and moves toward the center.

       

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More Recent Articles

• Scientist, Engineer and Operations Manager
• Conservation and concentration of effort
• Enough small moments
• "I think we are an outfit headed for extinction"
• Reviewing a contract

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