Tag: Fear

Risks and Rewards

As the saying goes, you’ve got to enter the lion’s den to get the lion. No pain no gain.

Taking risks is not something for everyone. After all, we have all the safety measures built-in to our system: from seat-belts to “frisk-machines”.

Yet, in business as in life, risk is part of life, just like death itself.

Risk is associated with fear. When consumer’s sentiment is said to be “healthy”, it means people are more willing to borrow and invest. In short, to spend.

When it is low, it means greed is suppressed by fear.

Spint has just completed its purchase of Clearwire.

It has been a long ordeal.

Back in 1999-2000, these enormous acquisitions would involve much more risks, yet much less time.

(Ebert, number 4 Worldcom purchased number 2 MCI by stocks).

It was a wild ride.

Then the dot.com burst.

The key here is spectrum.

We move very fast on the ground (wireline) and in the air (wireless).

ICT on steroid.

With strong appetite for risks, which requires strong stomach as well.

No risks, no rewards.

In Asia, we got Singapore, India which showed strong leaderships, capable of risk-taking (social engineering and IT, respectively).

Before 1997 Asian crisis, these countries were looked upon as Miracles.

Leadership is lonely at the top.

Unintended consequences and the urge to take the path of least resistance will undo any bold moves.

If a leader has chosen all the safe paths since college (taking courses that would ensure an A, and a career that was well paid with least sacrifice), then the result would be leadership who is risk-advert.

Play politics.

Becoming all things to all men.

Catering to the whim and wishes of the majority to win votes.

That’s their rewards: popularity and being well-liked.

But risk takers have a different play book. Not foolish risk, but calculated one.

Gut-checking. With a lump in the throat. Screw it, let’s do it.

Those who take risks also face fear just like anyone else.

But went ahead and made the call anyway.

It’s called judgment and maturity.

It’s called, for the lack of a better word, Execute.

And it’s an art, with lots of practice and pain-taking efforts.

Not without consequences, among which unpopularity.

No risks, no progress (think of the Challenger).

Think of Marconi and his wintry towers.

Think of all-solar crosscountry flight (Amelia Earhart would be proud).

Think of Hoover Dam.

And millions of inventors and risk-takers who lost their shirts. And in the case of the owner of Segway, his life.

No risks, no rewards.

Fear as Motivator

As a child I feared rising flood water (drowning).

I feared thief by night, bully by day.

I feared having to stand out in the crowd (wearing bright colors).

For a nail that sticks up will be hammered down.

Fear of being drafted, of being called out in class to recite something in English.

Fear of being compared to other high achievers (relatives or peers).

Vietnamese childhood has been a dread.

Peer and parental pressures would make “Tiger Mom” in America paper Tiger.

French teachers would check my finger nails every day, and neighbors would stare if I put on a new shirt. Later, in seminary and seminars at corporate level, people would ensure conformity (rep ties, Oxford blue .. the Brook Brothers look). Sales trainers role-played down to a firm handshake and advised our teeth-cleaning every three months.

All that, until the pink slip came.

Then I don’t put much weight behind those fear of the unknown. Some people whose life was totally invested in those codes, couldn’t take it e.g. retirees from the CIA were known to die within a few years off-service.

The old Command-and-Control system works well within the confine of those groups (cultic and militaristic).

But our new world, our multi-polar world, is looking for a different kind of leaders or even leaderless organization.

The best thing can happen to a worker is being fired. Then he/she can begin a new narrative and journey.

The mother of all fears is fear of death. Work back from there, and you will be amazed.

In my end, my beginning.

Like it or not, we are armed with an instinct to survive (camouflage, conformity and compromise). We know when to hold, when to fold.

The cavemen reflexes are built-in.

Cavemen or corporate men.

IBM Red-white-and-blue or hairy beardy 60’s. We carry our fears around.

Just use it, as a motivator.

A little more risk here, a toning down there. We will find the ideal mix between self-destruction and self-preservation.

Those who venture nothing gain nothing.

Those who risk it all, got nothing left to show.

But progress demands self-disruption and self-examination.

History is made by those who both advanced and retreated.

The fear business, like the vice business, take up a lot of GNP.

9/11 took that up a few notches: scanning machines and profiling algorithms.

With all the security apparatus in place, we still fear (no large shampoo in carry on).

Fear paralyzes, fun liberates.

Animals spring out to appear larger than they are (to self-preserve).

Butterflies also flap their wings to gain wind leverage and to avoid capture.

Use that which we are endowed with.

Fear motivates but dull not our senses because of fear.

The odd that something bad happens twice at the same place and circumstances is nil. Use our heads. People who got Purple Heart are testimonies to valor and courage, in the face of fear. I still fear of flood, of bullies and of corporal punishment. But they fear me too, if I turned off mine.

Use it.