James Bond suffers from the same shortcoming, probably because he had never paid much attention to Q’s advice and instructions and was still well and alive after dozens of movies. So, people know about their risks, but don’t want to do anything about them because they think that it will not happen with them.

For example, smokers believe that they are less likely to suffer or die from smoke related diseases than other smokers. According to optimism bias, people tend to believe that they are less exposed to risk than others. The reason lies in human psychology, particularly in what is called the Optimism Bias. They don’t use it for its most important function: to prioritize and manage the risks, Why is this the norm? This is a common situation in project management: project managers create elaborate risk registers, but their efforts mostly end there. This is an interesting phenomenon: in most cases people can identify risks, but don’t put much effort into managing them. However, as is often the case in real life, Bond does not really pay any attention to Q and has less respect for Q’s equipment (it is never returned in pristine shape). In fact, Q briefs Bond on risk mitigation and response strategies and offers some risk mitigation tools in the form of his gadgets. Q: “I’ve always tried to teach you two things: First, never let them see you bleed ” Remember, Q (standing for Quartermaster) the gadget man who gave James Bond different weapons and other spy gear for his missions? Here is a snippet from one of their conversations in “The World Is Not Enough”:

Optimism bias examples