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Safe Danger

An Unexpected Method for Sparking Connection, Finding Purpose, and Inspiring Innovation

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Safe Danger

By: Ben Swire
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About this listen

An award-winning designer and former Design Lead at the iconic innovation firm IDEO teaches how to use small, creative risks to build trust, inspire connection, and supercharge employee engagement.

In a world where safety easily becomes stagnation and risk is seen as a threat, Ben Swire's counterintuitive book, Safe Danger, offers a refreshing perspective on how playful creativity can balance those two forces to unlock personal and professional growth.

Ask people what they want from life and you’ll hear: inspiring experiences, exciting work, meaningful relationships, and making a difference. But ask how they’re doing on that wish list, and you’ll likely find it’s still just that: a wish list. That’s because those things require intimidating risks like vulnerability, disappointment, and trust. As a result, we end up with a chasm between what we want and what we’re willing to do to get it. In Safe Danger, Ben Swire has developed a suite of creative activities that combine safety and risk to spur emotional growth.

Drawing on the latest research and years of experience, this entertaining book explains how and why his playful approach is so effective at helping people manage fear and make change. Swire delves into seven powerful qualities that the Safe Danger method can unlock to help people bring out the best in themselves and their teams: joy, vulnerability, curiosity, optimism, connection, trust, and creativity. Full of practical activities and inspiring insights, Safe Danger is for business professionals and creative types—especially those who feel stuck or dissatisfied with their company’s work culture or career trajectory.

Whether you're a leader looking to engage your team, a professional seeking to infuse your career with new life, or an individual striving to get more out of your time on earth, Safe Danger offers the tools and insights you’ve been missing. Discover how to embrace the unexpected, fuel your creativity, and inspire those around you with the transformative power of "Safe Danger."

©2025 Ben Swire (P)2025 Balance
Creativity Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success

Critic Reviews

"Our story about risk is getting in the way of creating the future we need. Ben opens the door for teams to come alive, wake up and make an impact."—Seth Godin, bestselling author of This Is Strategy and This Is Marketing

"Delightful and profound, Safe Danger delivers on its provocative title. Author Ben Swire offers a timeless guide to living a fuller and more innovative life while becoming a better leader. With its engaging stories and practical creative activities, this may be one of the most useful management books you will read this year."
Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School; author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, and the person whose work brought the term “psychological safety” into everyday life.

"Safe Danger is a blueprint for building cultures where connection and creativity become the norm—not the exception. With the insight of a designer and the heart of a humanist, Ben Swire shows how small risks can lead to big breakthroughs—in teams, in culture, and in ourselves."—Tim Brown, author of Change by Design and Chair of IDEO

"I didn’t expect a book about risk to be so fun. But I guess that’s exactly the point! Safe Danger doesn’t just lay out the facts and tell you why taking small risks matters—it actually gives you an experience and makes you feel it."—Jad Abumrad, Peabody Award-winning creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America
"Safe Danger is about more than team-building—it is about the invisible forces that shape our relationships, our creativity, our very sense of belonging. Swire is a brilliant guide, reminding us that risk is not just the domain of thrill-seekers or disruptors but is woven into the fabric of human connection. Through small, playful, intentional acts of courage, we can transform not just our teams, but ourselves."—Jordan Harbinger, host of The Jordan Harbinger Show

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