A decision made under risky conditions can be sounder than one made when the decision maker is circumspect and prudent. It is important to understand one's risk-taking patterns, one's perceptions rooted in personal and professional history, and the degree to which cultural injunctions encourage or deter prudent risk taking. (Author/JOW)

Some training failures may be attributed to lack of recognition that learning is a social activity and that collective learning results in communities of practice. The experiences of Dede Miller at Xerox Corporation and the gap that separates learning theory and common training practice show how hard it is to apply new approaches to workplace…