Risk culture unfolds in stages. The first is to dare. In French, “to dare” exists only in verb form – which is fitting, because daring is essentially dynamic. It is indeed found among the prudent, those who stretch their caution until it reaches the point of daring. They experience a momentary lapse of “laziness,” where their incredulity is silently neutralized and their intellect caught off guard. Thus, they go for it.
Next comes boldness. This is the act of choosing a path that is only partially blazed. Along the way, one knows the time will come when one can rely solely on oneself – and yet a path still exists. Then, there is courage. This is the idea of potential loss, personal sacrifice and the high cost of failure.
Which brings us to sheer nerve – the reserve of those who live and breathe risk every single hour of every passing day. They are out on the high seas. A sudden surge of vital energy can emerge within them – blindfolded, like a flash of insight – to help them clear obstacles more daunting than even the high stakes they face daily. Nerve is the will to climb “one rung higher” on an already steep ladder. It goes beyond courage, beyond boldness. It comes down to a person; a group can never possess such nerve.
It is perhaps the ultimate, solitary peak of the individual’s power to say "I" – when I am at my most alive and most sovereign. In a brief flash of improvisation, a raw, instinctive will asserts its sway over the chatter of the intellect. It is a moment of hyper-concentration that verges on self-hypnosis.
What is the opposite of sheer nerve? It is the refusal to leap. The same animal instinct, the same improvisation, the same arrow of psychic focus and self-hypnosis – but all in the service of a negation.
Thus, sheer nerve is the positive force that governs the world. It is the propensity in certain individuals – especially entrepreneurs – to briefly defy gravity by allowing themselves to be governed by hope and self-belief. It is the antidote to the refusal to leap, a plague upon our modern societies consumed by a culture of risk reduction.
It is a great virtue that we celebrate at Bpifrance!
Nicolas DUFOURCQ
CEO, Bpifrance
