The risk of safety

Safety is knowing the result before the action. Risk isn’t.

Everyone likes safety. Especially in matters of business. And the crystal ball works pretty well in the short term. If you’ve done it before, it will work again. At least one more time. Right up until it doesn’t. But there’s the rub. Because no one knows where the long term will go and when the short term will stop.

But if there are certainties, I’ll stake it on two things. Change will come, and it will only keep coming faster. Which means safety will become that much riskier. And the more you play it safe, the less you’ll be ready for the change. You’ll be playing the same old game, while everyone else is working by a new set of rules. The true dilemma is this. Our gut likes safe, but the world loves new.

When you started your business, you took a risk. You entered a field you didn’t know a thing about with passion and verve. But you figured it out. You got things to work. You probably took a risk with your style too. You looked around, you saw what people were doing, you reacted, you learned how to shoot the way you wanted. You didn’t think it was too trendy, and it wouldn’t last. You didn’t think it was too traditional, and it wasn’t fresh enough. You just did what you did. After all, one person’s safety is another person’s risk. It wasn’t the style that got you where you are. It was that you imbued it with your values and got good at it.

But once we’ve been around the block, we all know what went down. We know what we’ve done, we know what worked. So now we see risk whenever we diverge. And we start to think money will insulate us. But it won’t. It’s just a stall tactic to buy more time. What protects us is growth. Growth lets you react to and surpass the present no matter what your style. And not growth as in bigger. Growth as in better. Broader. More diverse. More capable. Growth as in learning.

If safety is knowing the result, then safety precludes growth. The only way you can know something will work is by having done it enough in the past or seeing others do it enough to have witnessed the results. But if you’ve done it that much, you’ve probably milked most of what you can from it. If others have done it, then they’ve beaten you to the punch. The competitive advantage is gone.

Give risk a try. Risk forces learning. Sometimes you fall flat. But so what? Go at it again. Take the picture you wouldn’t take. Send the email you wouldn’t send. Cancel something. Start something new. What’s really going to happen? And don’t retreat if it doesn’t work out the first time. Growth is not success. It is overcoming failure. When you started, you didn’t abandon your style every time your shots didn’t work out, did you? You kept at it. You’ll land on your feet, you’ll see what you can really do, and you’ll learn. It will let you stay nimble and react, because predictable is dead.

In reality, I’m not sure predictable was ever alive. But cycles were certainly slower, so we could ride things out for long enough that it didn’t matter. Whatever the case, what got us there will no longer keep us there. Blackberry, Netflix, Microsoft. Palm, Yahoo. How about Gap? Companies that stopped innovating. That retreated to well-worn formulas. Formulas they even built themselves. All innovative – even ground-breaking somewhere along the way. No longer. Cannibalizing yourself, challenging yourself, turning before you need to hit the brakes. These are actions of risk. These are the actions we need to embrace.

If you lost your portfolio and your client list, could you give it another go? Using just your knowledge, your technique, and your understanding – are those enough? Because if they’re not, then there’s nothing to protect by playing it safe. If what you have inside of you is enough, then there’s nothing to lose, because you have what you need. You’ll manage no matter what you do wrong.

I think deep down, everyone wonders how much is luck. That maybe we can’t give it all up and go another round. And luck matters to be sure. But it’s there or it isn’t, and that’s beyond our control. Put your faith in yourself. Forget about the rest. Don’t think of risk as risk. Just growth. Investing in you. Do that, and you’ll stay new. In reality, there is no risk, and there is no safety. There is just movement and stillness. And there’s a reason we call it getting ahead and we call it getting left behind.