My daughter is jumping out of an airplane tomorrow.

When I first heard, I asked her what kind of training she would get. “There is no need,” she said. ‘You jump with an expert. You are never on your own. They even pull the ripcord for you. They do this all the time.”

So there is no reason to worry. Right? The likelihood of a problem is tiny. They do this all the time and she is literally in the hands of experts.

I woke up suddenly from a dream this morning. I was on the shore with my two daughters when they were quite young. One was trying to decide whether to put her suit on and go in. Next thing I knew, the other was no where to be seen. I yelled her name. I looked around desperately. I thought I saw something underwater, so I dove in. I dove too far and was swimming back against the under tow when I awoke in panic.

The likelihood of one of my daughters drowning was small after some point, nonetheless, the consequences would have been devastating. Likelihood is just one factor to consider when assessing risk. The other is seriousness.

The seriousness of skydiving is right up there with swimming and rates at least a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. When the seriousness is high, you must consider ways to reduce the impact. What if the expert has a heart attack? What if you are separated? What if …?

When assessing risk, you must assess both likelihood and seriousness. Good risk management involves smart decisions and actions to reduce the likelihood of a problem and to reduce the impact should a problem occur despite your efforts to prevent it.

In short, you better know when and how to pull your own ripcord!