Estes Park resident Jim McCormick has elevated risk-taking to an art. He describes how to make intelligent risk decisions in his 2022 book “The Power of Risk” (Armin Lear Press).
“Most of us would benefit by taking a few more risks as long as we do it in an intelligent and thoughtful way,” he writes in his introduction.
But you don’t have to go as far as McCormick, who might be described as an uber-risk taker with 5,600 sky-diving jumps under his belt.
Can you believe it? More than 5,000 times, he jumped out of an airplane with a parachute. The worst thing that ever happened?
“I twisted my ankle on landing once,” he said in a recent interview at his home.
He doesn’t suggest that people should be more like him, but he does think they should understand their risk quotient.
“We won’t dramatically change people, but you can give yourself permission to develop risk areas,” he said.
Most people are taught at an early age to be cautious and risk-averse.
“We have been socialized to see risk as negative,” he said. McCormick said about 10 percent of the population is made up of risk-takers, while 90 percent take few risks, and even this level diminishes with age.
While his book is aimed at showing individuals how they can benefit from a thoughtful approach to risks, his work for the past many years has been as a speaker.
He has more than 80 speaking engagements and executive presentations scheduled for this year alone.
“A risk is any action with an uncertain outcome,” he said. Businesses face myriad changes as they address succession, new development, acquisitions, expansions, and product lines. He helps ask the question: Do the benefits outweigh the organizational risk?
Individuals, businesses, and countries all have a risk quotient.
It’s perhaps not surprising that the United States has a relatively high tolerance for risk in the marketplace, while countries like Japan have a low tolerance.
“Look at our culture,” he said. “We have a country full of malcontents…and (yet have) a concentration of Nobel Prizes, patents, and technological developments.”
McCormick has a degree in engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and enough business experience—mortgage banking and real estate—to know he wanted to work for himself.
He decided to try skydiving as a measure of personal development.
What could possibly go wrong? In his case, nothing.
“I did a second jump the same day (as the first jump),” he said. “I was immediately smitten.”
McCormick says there are a variety of ways you can distinguish yourself in the sport. He specializes in large-formation skydiving. For instance, in 2011, he and 68 other people held hands and set a Colorado State Skydiving record by forming a Colorado snowflake in mid-air.
Oh, and by the way, he holds 18 world records for large-formation diving events.
If you have the itch, you can go to Mile High Skydiving in Longmont at Mile-Hi Skydiving.
But you’ll have to work pretty hard to beat McCormick’s commitment – he has taken 5,600 jumps in the past 38 years. His partner and publisher, Maryann Karinch, has 600 jumps.
“On our first date, we went skydiving,” he said.
However, there are many less extreme risks to be faced in life.
McCormick founded the Research Institute for Risk Intelligence to help both individuals and businesses with decision-making by measuring their natural inclinations and risk quotients across areas such as business, hobbies, and careers.
In 1995, McCormick was part of a skydiving expedition to the North Pole. This marked a turning point in his life. He began lecturing at schools for free about his experience, and as time went on, he came to the attention of corporate leaders and began speaking at businesses.
“I knew I would never go back to (traditional) work,” he said. The speaking career came first and then came several books.
“The Power of Risk” is the latest.
When Jim and Maryann met in San Francisco 30 years ago, they knew they wanted to live together in a beautiful place with access to both airports and mountains. Estes Park called.
But he had a special reason for wanting to live here.
“My parents met when they were both counselors at Cheley Camp in the 1940s,” said McCormick. “We have had three generations of Cheley campers. I was a camper at Trails End outside of Glen Haven from 1970 to 1973. I was a counselor at the Main Camp off Fish Creek in 1975 and 1976.
“Being here in 1976 meant I was here for the Big Thompson flood. I was part of the rescue efforts, getting people out of Glen Haven.”
On two occasions, McCormick skydived into the camp for Cheley reunions.
Now 70, McCormick does admit he is getting a little tired of traveling.
“I feel very fortunate that people find it’s worthwhile for me to come and talk to them,” he said. Out of the 1,500 speakers in the bureau he works with, he is the only one who talks about risk.
“It’s a difficult topic to discuss,” he said. Still, where would his life be without it?
Now his goal is to achieve relevance. It’s a worthy goal for anyone. It could be through volunteering, mentoring, serving as grandparents, or serving as leaders or members of a church. Age does not have to be a barrier.
In 2023, McCormick participated in an event that set a world record. In Perris, California, 101 senior team members formed a large formation jump. This was important because all were skydivers over age 60, with one-third over 70. And all walked away just fine.
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