To be body-bag averse is far from shameful: no one should relish unnecessary casualties, and technology now enables Americans to do much of their fighting from a height or a distance in comparative safety.

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Simply put, it is not terribly good preparation for real life to teach students that they will be protected, by timid and risk-averse administrators, from hearing disturbing speech.

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That's a significantly higher level of income than the Staggses who describe themselves as risk-averse are likely to be able to produce from investing the same lump sum in, say, Treasury notes and then sticking to the convention of withdrawing no more than 4% annually from the proceeds.

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The duo ended up redirecting, or pivoting as would be the correct entrepreneurial-lingo, their initial idea twice, shifting not only customer segment from shopping-averse male college graduates to gay and metrosexual working professionals, but were also forced to realize that their customers did not lack sources of inspiration but needed to be actively sought out.

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So if you tend toward being risk averse, I encourage you to rethink the nature of risk, and how not taking risks may be keeping you from more of the success you want, whether you measure it in recognition, remuneration or bottom line results.

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