I know I have shared before that I have a low-risk tolerance generally. This was brought home to me the other day while out on my paddleboard. It was a sunny and fairly warm spring afternoon - about 16 degrees. The water temperature, however, is barely 7 degrees. I was out on the lake in my neoprene wetsuit, boots, and gloves when another paddler crossed my path. She was wearing water shoes, yoga pants, a long sleeve shirt and a huge sunhat with sunglasses. I made a comment about the risk of falling in. Her response was  - “ it’s ok I am staying close to shore.”

As I continued paddling I pondered her logic. To me it didn’t matter if you were close to shore or not, if you go overboard you are going to get fully submerges in 7-degree water for at least a few minutes while you drag yourself and your gear back to shore or pull yourself back up onto the board. Either way, you would then be soaking wet and would be who knows how far away from getting back to where you put in. That risk made absolutely no sense to me. I then turned my attention to the gear she had on that I did not – a huge sunhat protecting her face and neck from the sun. (I am guessing she probably had sunscreen on too!) That kind of protection never even crossed my mind.

It was clear our evaluation of risk and its probability and impact were very apart on the spectrum. It reminded me that the value of working with a team is the richness those varied perspectives bring.