The Independence in Risk
The Risk of Independence The Declaration of Independence, the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 announced that the 13 American colonies of Great Britain would regard themselves as 13 independent sovereign states. The 56 signers of this bold document were risk takers and they knew it. Legends emerged years later about the signing. Among these legends was the story that John Hancock told the Congress shortly after the signing that they must now "all hang together," and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Our forefathers were aware of the risky actions and willfully chose to make their bold statement. While not to the extent of our forefathers, our employees are risk takers in the workplace. They evaluate their surroundings and make decisions that affect their personal safety hundreds of times per day. Like our