How many times have you heard (so-called) leaders use this excuse for being risk averse? What did an abundance of caution ever get us other than lost opportunities? Of course, this is just my opinion (for what that’s worth…not much…) but leaders who are skewed toward using an abundance of caution do not engender confidence in their leadership abilities.
Unfortunately, though, an abundance of caution seems to be modus operandi for many leaders today, an excuse for “holding back”…a pretext for falling behind.
Speaking of an abundance of caution, can you imagine the use of untethered spacewalks today? If so, you have a great imagination! According to Wikipedia, all spacewalks have had the astronauts tethered to their spacecraft except for seven spacewalks by the United States (six in 1984 using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, and one in 1994 testing the SAFER rescue device).”
But on February 7, 1984, according to History.com Editors, “while in orbit 170 miles above Earth, Navy Captain Bruce McCandless II became the first human being to perform an untethered spacewalk, when he exited the U.S. space shuttle Challenger and maneuvered freely, using a bulky white jet pack of his own design.
“McCandless orbited Earth in tangent with the shuttle at speeds greater than 17,500 miles per hour—the speed at which satellites normally orbit Earth—and flew up to 320 feet away from the Challenger. After an hour and a half of testing and flying the jet-powered backpack and admiring Earth, McCandless safely reentered the shuttle.
“Later that day, Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Stewart tried out the jet pack, which was a device regarded as an important step toward future operations to repair and service orbiting satellites and to assemble and maintain large space stations. It was the fourth orbital mission of the space shuttle Challenger.” (History.com Editors)
Onward and upward!
Kind regards,
Barry R. Fetzer
ECAHF Historian