#daring #stupidity #RiskTaking #innovation #phones #technology

In a restaurant ad, two guys are having lunch, when the boss for one of the guys calls him.

He dunks his phone into his drink.

“I have insurance,” he tells the other.

In a second ad, for a vacation package, three guys go on vacation. When they are all in the pool, one guy pulls out his phone to take a selfie of the three. He drops his phone into the pool.

Good thing he saved all that money on his trip, to paraphrase the narrator. (As an aside, did he put his phone in his bathing-suit pocket before jumping into the pool?)

The first ad begs the question: would your phone’s insurer cover your loss if it knew you deliberately dunked your phone? Also, what would the boss say if he knew that not only did you ignore his call, but also dunked your phone?

There are another ads that show people leaning over a cliff walk to take a selfie. Yes, the person comes close to falling, but he (or she) probably got a great picture. Then, we have the ads in which drivers playing with phones crash.

Does modern telephone technology put something in one’s brain that prompts a person to take such risks?

Certainly, the technology is great if used appropriately. If the guy in the first ad did not want to talk to his boss during lunch, he could have just sent the call to voicemail and called the boss back afterward.

The three vacationers would have been better off to take the selfie on the pool deck, with the pool in the background. If the phone got dropped, presuming it had a protective case, no damage would have been done.

One might say that these scenarios illustrate combining technology with daring.

Others might say they illustrate stupidity.

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, the difference between daring and stupidity is that daring has its limits.

We certainly don’t want to encourage people to always take the safe route. Innovation often requires daring, and over-caution can inhibit innovation.

But daring, as well as genius, should not necessarily be limited. Perhaps smart and daring people know how to limit stupidity better than others.

Most innovative people look for options that those who gravitate to safety would never consider.

Certainly, folks of a certain age remember their parents preaching safety and security above all else.

But the innovative never stop dreaming, though they initially may gravitate to the safe option. The safe option(s) can buy time for ideas to gel. Once that happens, the innovator can use his hours away from his safety and security to bring his or her idea to fruition.

In short, be daring, but be smart. Be safe, but don’t ditch your dream just to be safe.

And, when the call comes that could bring your dream to fruition, don’t dunk your phone.

Peter