The Paradox Of Safety

By Les Mottosky

Have you noticed the Muster Point trend?

Society is increasingly built around safety. From seatbelts to warning labels, workplace regulations to endless health guidelines, we’ve designed systems that aim to reduce risk and protect us from harm. Producers of innocuous products like socks, jelly beans and mattresses all claim 'Your safety is our top priority'. On the surface, this seems unquestionably good. But there’s an unintended consequence: the more we focus on safety, the more angst we generate.

This obsession with security is creating a ubiquitous & underlying signal of fear.

When safety becomes the dominant lens, risk gets magnified. Every potential hazard becomes a headline, every minor uncertainty a threat. Instead of feeling protected, we learn to scan for danger. Constantly. Children raised in this culture of caution are less likely to play freely, explore, or test limits. Adults internalize the same patterns by avoiding new experiences, deferring bold decisions, and framing the unfamiliar as unsafe.

Ironically, this pursuit of safety can make us feel less safe. Regulations and safeguards that should provide confidence often highlight risks we might never have noticed. Airport security measures make them feel like pre-jail when they could more appropriately feel like a celebration of human ingenuity and connection.

The result is a society that has normalized fear. We become hesitant, reactive, and in some cases, paralyzed by “what ifs.” Creativity and resilience —the very qualities that help us adapt to real dangers— begin to atrophy. Safety becomes less about thriving and more about avoiding.

This isn't a hit-piece on security; it's only meant to point out the cost to our collective worldview by obsessing on it.

The crazier thing? Security is a mirage. It only exists in our mind's eye.

A real-life happening:

One 2017 winter evening, a Calgary couple was cozy and contentedly watching Hockey Night In Canada in their home when a chunk of ice crashed through the roof. It had fallen off an airplane bound for Mexico. The couple avoided injury, but their home did not. (BTW: the airline ended-up paying for the house repairs).

This sky-iceberg story demonstrates – albeit dramatically – that even when we're in a circumstance that feels secure as possible, risk is ultimately inescapable.

So how do we avoid becoming paralyzed by fear? We stop trading our awareness for what can't be delivered; security. Budgets can be allocated, strategies developed, resources deployed, but true security is not an honest deliverable. We must accept that (a miniscule) 'risk to life' is the life we all inherit. (And it's the same for everyone that's ever lived.)

From here we can notice the confidence that arises from an examination of our lived experience. Then consciously place our faith in the overwhelming evidence of a mostly kind Universe.

Example? Back to the sky-iceberg; a titanium dome over the property is not the answer. But we can pan-out and look at the tens of thousands of homes in Calgary that weren't hit by ice. Then the millions across Canada, and the tens of millions in North America. This math experiment rapidly generates evidence, confidence and trust that the Universe is benevolent nearly all of the time. (Even for the holy-roofed, uninjured Calgary couple). It's just that the rare events of an early fate get the media attention.

Life is built on a permanent, non-negotiable algorithm of uncertainty that negates security. Beyond taking obvious steps to care for ourselves and others, we can only choose to cultivate the confidence that we're creative enough to manage life's variability when it arises.

That's the closest point of security anyone of us can muster.

TAGS: #Adaptation As Innovation #Cultural Creativity #Courage Is Our Nature #Wisdom In Leadership #Look Deeper

Les Mottosky

Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.

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lesmottosky@mac.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/les-mottosky-9b94527/