We talk a lot about safety: product safety, traffic safety, bicycle safety, workplace safety, nuclear safety, etc. and I teach leaders how to create workplaces that are psychologically safe.

This focus on safety in our chronically anxious society could lead us to believe that safety is the most important value in life.

Safety is certainly important, but, according to Edwin Friedman in, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership In The Age Of The Quick Fix, “if a society is to evolve, or if leaders are to arise, then safety can never be allowed to become more important than adventure… We are on our way to becoming a nation of ‘skimmers,’ living off the risks of previous generations and constantly taking from the top without adding significantly to its essence. Everything we enjoy as part of our advanced civilization, including the discovery, exploration, and development of our country, came about because previous generations made adventure more important than safety… Prioritizing safety over adventure creates anxious risk avoiders, more concerned with good feelings than with progress.”