Tuesday, April 11, 2006

fear of the new

Geoffrey Klempner, Philosophy for Business, is a "catalyst" in the knowledge stream about the future of Corporate Governance at the Summit for the Future - May 3-5, 2006

Monday, 10th April 2006: A colleague questioned a claim I made, commenting on the synopsis of Sir Paul Judge's keynote presentation for the Club of Amsterdam Summit for the Future 2006, when I said that, 'a risk is, in itself, always bad':

'Are you sure that the concept of "risk" is always bad, by the way? What about the "risk-lovers" who are mentioned?'

At first, I couldn't understand why anyone would think that. Obviously, risk lovers, by definition, are prepared to take bigger risks for a given reward than risk haters. But if you could get exactly the same thing that you wanted without having to take any risk, it would be idiotic to choose the option which allows even the smallest risk. A risk, again by definition, is always a risk that something bad might happen, to risk is to risk a bad consequence. When you take a risk, you gamble that you will get the thing you want and not the thing that you want to avoid. That's just what a risk is.

Then the penny dropped. This may be the strict meaning of 'risk', but this is not the only way in which we colloquially use the term risk. For example, a friend phones you up and invites you to a party. 'I don't know, I've got a lot of work to catch up on.' 'Yeah, you might risk enjoying yourself, or even meeting someone!' comes the sarcastic reply.

This is a different kind of risk aversion, the fear of the new. The introverted young man is reluctant to 'come out of his shell', preferring the 'familiar', the 'safe' to any situation which presents the slightest emotional challenge. The metaphor of the shell is very apt, because it conveys the idea of different realities, the reality that you know all too well, and the reality that you don't yet know, the unfamiliar, the new.

At one extreme, this fear takes the form of a psychological condition called chronophobia. I am lying in bed, imagining what it would be like to be sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast. The very thought of a time different from now causes a peculiar kind of panic.

It is difficult to convey this fear, which for most persons lasts only seconds or fractions of a second, to someone who has never experienced it. It is the psychological equivalent of the ancient metaphysical problem of the nowness of now. There is no logical definition of 'now'. Let's say now is the time that GK writes, 'Now is the time...'. Already that time is gone. Now is now a different time. Every time you attempt to define now, you end up defining any or some now, rather than this unique now. However, in order to really appreciate the force of this problem you have to feel it. The endless succession of nows is nothing less than the succession of deaths and rebirths of the 'I'. When I am munching my breakfast toast, the I-now that lies here thinking this will be dead, annihilated.

Chronophobia is one possible explanation of the fear of the new, but by no means the only explanation. There is also the fear of relationship, which arguably plays a larger, more significant role in our fear of the new. This is a more plausible explanation for the case of the reluctant party goer.

However, in the context of the Amsterdam Summit, it is difficult to see that the fear of time, or fear of relationship are going to be key issues. Is there any other 'pathological' form of risk aversion?

There is another fear, which has a double aspect. It drives some people on, while it makes others hold back. I mean the fear of failure. If I gamble £1 on black and red comes up, I have 'failed' to win £1. That's too bad, especially if I needed the money for my fare home. Losing my bet on the roulette wheel is, according to my analysis of risk in the literal sense, something to fear. But if you like to gamble, why not take the risk? (There are actually very good reasons for not betting on roulette: There is no room for skill. If there are one or more 0's on the wheel then you can't win in the long run, but let's leave that aside.) The fear of failure is something else. Like chronophobia and the fear of relationship, it is an ego problem. But in this case, the object of the fear is our fragile sense of our own self-worth. The fear of failure can spur you on to compete more ruthlessly, determined to win at all costs, or it can paralyze you into inactivity.

Some very successful business people suffer from the pathological fear of failure. You would never know that there was a problem until an occasion arises where they have to take a loss, admit that they were beaten this time. But these executives and managers won't accept this. Often, they will go to extraordinary lengths to put the blame on someone else, or else refuse to face the facts and ending up with a bigger loss.

I remember once reading an article which made the case that the fear of failure is one of the legacies of a school system based on competition designed to produce the meritocracy for our 'brave new world'. That was thirty years ago. Now it's worse. In Japan, there have been reports of an alarming rise in suicide rates of young people as a result of the extreme demands of a school system which ruthlessly punishes failure. In Britain, the comprehensive state school system introduced in the 60's as the solution to the problem of a two-tier system where losers were consigned to second-class education, is now being dismantled, step by step, with the appearance once more of 'schools of excellence' which will cream of the most 'successful' pupils.

If the skeleton of the fear of failure is lurking in your closet, what can you do? It all depends whether you are asking a philosopher or a psychologist. There are various therapies and cures. Try a search on Google. Here's a typical statement I just found just looking at the listings: 'Combat stress and liberate your assertive self... Use affirmation and positive self-statements to counter fear of failure.'

Right.

And the philosophical approach? That would simply be to imagine you are advising someone else on what do about a similar situation to the one that faces you... then take your own advice. That's the rational way. I can't promise that it will work.
(c) Geoffrey Klempner 2006









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