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Quote of the Day: Risks and Results
“You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.” – Chuck Yeager
Today we focus almost exclusively on the risk of any new endeavor, not the results. Yet Chuck Yeager is right – if the potential results justify it, the risks are worth taking. But nothing ever gets done if you consider the risks as more important than the results and concentrate on the risks instead of the results.
Note the word “necessary” in the quote. He isn’t talking about a “Hey, y’all hold muh beer and watch this!” risk. He is talking about a goal that is worth achieving, whether it is breaking the sound barrier, placing a man in orbit, landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely, or landing on Mars for the first time. Or even more prosaic, everyday jobs – taking a container ship from its departure port to a destination, finishing a building, or writing a book.
Published in General
Ooh! Ooh! I’m a risktaker, too!
You would be amazed at the number of people I have talked to who said they would never write a book because it was too risky. What risk, I always thought, but I guess the fear of rejection is just too great in some people.
I’ve been rejected by better. 😁
Oh YES!
I don’t fear rejection, I … just … write … slow, so is writing the best use of my time?
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Depends upon the results, doesn’t it?
In my occupations I’ve met some interesting people, often – maybe usually – by chance. They were usually ordinary people who did or knew something about something. With my basically scientific background I usually understood their often esoteric lingo (most of my coworkers had liberal arts backgrounds, didn’t know a quoit from a qwark). When they caught on that I actually understood them, they were happy to talk. I would put my notebook away and just listen.
Once I was canvassing a neighborhood, and I ended up interviewing a guy who, it turned out, sold ultralight aircraft. He had recently come from a company conference. Chuck Yeager was a spokesman, and was on the platform while the president presented a new model. Among the “ooh’s” and “ahh’s,” the president tossed the key to Yeager, and said, go ahead! Take it up! Yeager looked at the key for a moment, then tossed it back. Are you crazy? Yeager asked. I haven’t been checked out on it. I’m still alive because I don’t take stupid risks.
Based on what I know of Yeager’s life, his risk calculations may be a bit different than most of us. Still…
Food for thought.
Even though Yeager had the West Virginian “ah, shucks!” appearance, he was a test engineer and knew the Bell X-1 thoroughly. When he got close to the speed of sound, the traditional horizontal stabilizer was not controlling the aircraft properly. He used the horizontal trim for control. This led to the “flying tail” or Stabilator for supersonic aircraft:
Sounds like he did not consider flying the ultralight as a “necessary result.”
“Never tell me the odds!” is a great movie line but has no place in a test program.