Safety is Not a Virtue — Not Only Luck

The wussification of America teaches kids to be scared of risk-taking. It works against the entrepreneurial spirit.

I love watching kids go out and try to make a buck. Things like mowing lawns as soon as they’re big enough to push the mower. It pays dividends in so many ways for the neighborhood, the family, and the kid. How many of us have HOAs that would send emails to a listserv like the ones listed in this article. We’re so wussy now we even have to change our stamps because they don’t have helmets.

If you want to start a company, you have to fight against this trend. You have to fight against it on two-levels: 1) against the “play-it-safe” advice of entrepreneurial-naysayers in your circle of friends and family, 2) against the influences of wussification that have permeated entrepreneurial circles (e.g. too much community can be a bad thing if you absorb yourself in that without doing the hard work of building stuff and selling stuff).

If you want to help your kids be entrepreneurial, you have to teach them that it is OK to take risk. Startups are not safe.

These are just some recent thoughts. There is a lot more that could be said on the topic. Tomorrow I’ll post a perspective on the responsibility for raising kids.

What are your thoughts on career safety and entrepreneurship?

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