RISK ADVERSE The Story of Fear, Trust, and Innovation

By @thejordanrules

One particularly gloomy Monday morning, Jimmy awoke to find a BAT sitting at the foot of his bed.

Being a child of 8, Jimmy was understandably scared…

… and began to cry.

Although his parents immediately came into the room, and got rid of the bat, this incident was the SCARIEST event of Jimmy's early life.

Jimmy grew. He grew and Grew, and GREW. He grew until he was a man…

… and was exposed to more and MORE scary situations.

Ahh!  

Burglars

Ahh!  

Angry Parents

Ahh!  

Heights

Ahh!  

The Dark

Ahh!  

… even vegetables

Ahh!  

Eventually, Jimmy graduated college, and got a job at the local widget factory.

But Jimmy still remembered all the things he was scared of.

Jimmy needed to figure out a way to STOP being scared of everything.

I  don’t  want  to  be  afraid!  

JIMMY DECIDED TO FACE HIS FEARS

Jimmy got a security system to protect himself from burglars

Ha!  

Jimmy had a long conversation with his parents and found they're not so scary

I  Love  You!  

We  Love  You!  

Jimmy went base jumping and realized heights are nothing to be afraid of

Ha!  

Jimmy unplugged his nightlight and realized he can sleep soundly in the dark

Zzzzzzzzz  

He even tried vegetables, and found he really didn't like them but… They weren't scary.

Ugh.  

After quashing every fear he could think of, Jimmy realized there was something else that scared him...

I’m  pre?y  much  fearless  

SOMETHING BIG… so BIG he was scared he couldn't face it alone.

THE FEAR OF: DISSAPOINTING OTHERS

Jimmy belongs to several different communities

Family  

Friends  Work  

Customers  

City  

In each community, Jimmy has worked hard to earn respect from his cohorts.

Jimmy realizes that everyday is lived in fear of disappointing certain members of his community.

The more he thinks about how engrained this fear is, he starts to think about how its affected his life.

Why  does  everyone  have  to  approve?  

He's stopped taking risks in order to stay safe.

and then progressed to avoiding unnecessary risks

Avoiding Dangerous Risks  

Reve

nue  

Time  

and then progressed to avoiding unnecessary risks

Avoiding Dangerous Risks  

Reve

nue  

Time  

Avoiding Unnecessary Risk  

Until Jimmy was always playing it safe

Avoiding Dangerous Risks  

Reve

nue  

Time  

Avoiding Unnecessary Risk  

Always Playing It Safe  

Jimmy realized that while focusing on the risk …

Risk  

Option 1   Option 2   Option 3  

He failed to consider the potential reward.

Risk  

Option 1   Option 2   Option 3  

Reward  

Jimmy began to understand that his competition wasn’t having better

ideas…

… They were just calculating their risk tolerance differently.

He realized that his aversion to risk has infected more than just his business, but his personal life as well.

+  

+  

=  

=  

Risk  

Risk  

This realization initiated a cathartic change in Jimmy.

Jimmy started to approach things differently. He started to approach situations as though he didn't have anyone to disappoint.

This allowed Jimmy to explore possibilities the old Jimmy would

never have explored.

He picked up Indian food for his family … They loved it.

Family  

He suggested a 6-prong widget at work - He was promoted.

Work  

He started answering customer inquiries though Twitter - It was a huge success.

Customers  Questions   Answers  

He held his first dinner party. - His friends had a blast.

Friends  

He started a petition to reduce public transit fare, though federal subsidies. - His city was thrilled.

City  

Of all the fears Jimmy faced…

…the fear of disappointing people might have been the

hardest to face…

…and the most rewarding when

conquered.

Take a page from Jimmy's book &…

don't let the fear of disappointing people

prevent you from achieving

unimaginable success.

You can start today by: •  Consider all ideas, risky or not •  Experiment and test ideas •  Assume you don’t know everything •  Assume everyone has something they

can teach you •  Try something new every day •  Talk to someone you wouldn’t normally

talk to.

For more ideas…

Read my blog: http://thejordanrules.posterous.com Or Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thejordanrules