Risk
I've been sitting on this one for a few days, and I had to think about it. The internal conflict had to do with how I think about my writing. I'm here to share knowledge and provide helpful information. I don't want to make it about me, but this topic came up when someone I hold in high regard, whom I've known for a very long time, asked me to write about the correlation between my risks and my success, as they see a distinct pattern. Even after we discussed it, I procrastinated because I don't want to write about myself. While I love sharing stories and experiences, I try not to veer into my own world too much. So, after lots of editing, here goes.
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I think about "risk" a lot because of its clear and profound impact on my life. Risk has been the core of everything, and it's what makes my journey so colorful. I'm not talking about Evel Knievel, shoot-yourself-over-a-canyon risk or hanging at the edge of a cliff with one toe. I'm talking about decision risks that are not fatal, such as a business failure, a decision that could cause setbacks, deep introspection, and possible widespread embarrassment. I'm including the risks where you could face ridicule if you fail, possible bankruptcy, starting over with nothing, or even going against popular opinion and getting openly criticized for it on social media. This is the world of anyone pushing new ideas.
If you step back and look at society in general, people prefer to parrot widely accepted points of view rather than champion unique thoughts and face ridicule, even when the accepted point of view turns out to be wrong. Groupthink is thriving. There are scientific debates in Quantum Mechanics, Dark Matter, COVID, AI, and the list goes on, that will someday shift from what we believed in 2020.
If you've applied for a role at a company recently, you will often notice on the application that they ask for all of your social media addresses. Why? It could be to get to know you, or it could be to only hire people with an accepted point of view or members of a political party. Often, they screen you out using this information, and you don't even know it. They want to make sure you are not "too risky for the company" or if your behavior and opinions run in opposition to the company's point of view.
Sure, some companies want to avoid embarrassment because of your public behavior, but many use it to screen out candidates where there may be a difference of opinion or a difference of culture, and the screening out is characterized as "unqualified" for some other reason. Who wants to hire a CEO/COO who's been out dancing on a roof naked and has the pictures to prove it?
So much for debating the merits of DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion), which is still mostly a somewhat well-intentioned illusion, or any other acronym of the day that later can't hold up under its own weight. After all, you still didn't get the job, did you? Better to not post anything, huh? For some, it's just better to remain silent.
I believe in the risk of my opinion. I think it's worth it. Who would I become if I had nothing to say? Thought police have been around forever. It's nothing new. It just changes form. It was my challenging leadership at Lamborghini that led to my involvement and friendships at the most senior levels!
Do you honestly think a good leader is ever going to be without an opinion or not be willing to state something they believe in? I don't want to work for or with a company where differences of opinion are regarded as a negative. In fact, I look for just the opposite when I hire, even if I disagree on some things. I don't expect people to align with my views. I just want them to have some sense of intellect and be able to make a case. I don't avoid debate. In fact, I learn from smart people in debates! I build companies with the highest quality decision-makers I can find who are willing to take risks.
I've watched all five seasons of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and the entire show is about argument and debate. It's fast, 1950s-style banter of constant differences of opinion. When you step back a bit and see the bigger picture, the general theme is pushing each other to become something better and to take risks. The entire premise of the show is about Marge Maisel bucking her stereotypical role as a wife and mother to become a comic in a mostly man's world in the '50s. She has to fight for everything and is constantly taking risks to move ahead.
I was already working on this draft when Season 5, Episode 8 came up a few nights ago. I came to the scene where Susie and Midge Maisel argue about Susie's reluctance to ask her old friend a favor to benefit Midge at 30:41. The most powerful line is when Susie says no, "If you don't, I'll always know there is something you could've done and you didn't." That was a powerful line because in retrospect, I tend to regret the risks I didn't take far more than the ones I did.
It seems like the majority of humans will only take risks when their survival or way of life is at stake. Groupthink is safe. It's hard enough to get consumers to try a new product or food. A whole class of people who take risks was invented called "early adopters." Costco understands this and uses sample servers in stores every day for the entire purpose of getting people to take a tiny risk. We're becoming "risk-averse" as the new norm, and we label those who take risks as "risky."
The world has always been packed with groupthink and pluralistic ignorance, as I've covered in my book. It's risky to go against groupthink and draw your own conclusions about anything or worse, act on them. It's scary! Sometimes you feel like you're going it alone. I feel that way many times, and that was why my friend said I should write this. Society, for as long as it has existed, has pushed for conformity, yet it's the non-conformists who seem to lead. Again, I think of the wonderful statement written by Rob Siltanen and others at Chiat-Day for Apple.
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
When I think of my entire life, going back to the day I graduated from high school and moved out of my parents' house that same summer, I've been taking risks. Big ones, ones that my friends wouldn't take, so I went alone. In part, I'm a pathological optimist; thus, a "big risk" to others doesn't look as big to me. I rationalize it into something manageable. I could never see a path to success that didn't involve some imaginary leap over a canyon, but I never saw it as deadly.
I've always seen myself as a very average guy in every way. I didn't go to a top school, I didn't have parents bankrolling me; none of that was in my world. However, I was willing to take optimistic risks. When I was broke, I kept thinking, how much worse could my life possibly get if I'm starting with nothing? I had to reconcile this idea in my head: what was the worst thing that could happen? That I live in a cardboard box somewhere? I remember one dark day in particular at Open Interface North America, where I thought we could fail because of the risks we were taking. I decided to go work at home that afternoon, and Rick, our COO, asked me where I was heading. I said to Best Buy to pick out a box to live in. We both laughed. That fear was a bigger reality for me than anyone knew, yet I made fun of it to keep it from consuming me.
It's my willingness to take risks that brought me my success more than any other single thing. When I see a company failing, I'll often wonder, what they would be willing to risk to be successful? Risk is in almost everything I do, right down to writing here on Substack.
I see the world inside an imaginary dome made up of conformists, unoriginal thinkers, people who would rather remain silent than champion a cause, and where few want to venture past the walls. I've never found success inside those walls. Only outside. The decision to uproot my life, move to a place I've never lived, and start over was one. Living in the Sprinter for four months was another. Acquiring Open Interface North America in four hours and twenty minutes changed the entire course of my life. I can’t imagine my life if I didn’t take that risk. It gives me chills.
I was recently telling someone about the experience in the Sprinter and how almost every next stop was better than I imagined, rarely worse. This was the constant reminder that the richness of my life, the continued success, would come from the actions I take, not the passive days when I do nothing. This is what keeps my life rich.