Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a titan entrepreneur. Many books, articles, blog posts have been written by people about how Amazon works, but Jeff Bezos has written his own take on it: Shareholder letters that give a unique insight into how Amazon operates.
I was recently reminded of a founder I coached about 7 years ago. Back then he had developed a climate change solution which eventually failed for various reasons; I wasn’t all surprised when his venture failed. I remembered him while on a recent trip in Cozumel Mexico, where I saw a solution that mimicked his being implemented.
The organizations that no longer exist are the ones that failed because they missed the future. Why did they miss the future? Because they were late to the party or got disrupted by an upstart. They never led, thus got disrupted. Ironically , organizations that fail operate with a fear of failure. Internally, it’s this mindset that kills any chance at disrupting themselves!
As we close 2021, I want to publish a short post on leadership and innovation. Innovation is another code word for leadership. Innovation doesn’t happen on its own, and it’s not a one person show, but a team game. But there is a spark that’s needed to get started, and that spark starts with a person who wants to change things for the better, imagines a better world; someone who thinks and acts differently.
Humans are a clusterfuck of emotions. Fear of failure, of being judged, of being wrong, of being seen as incompetent, as being seen as ignorant, all contribute to the challenge of creating successful teams that both get along and bring out the best of each other.
in Creativity, Innovation
Where do great ideas come from? There isn’t single source but I believe the best ideas are grounded on a unique insight. I’m not talking about the aha! moment, when something crystalizes in your mind’s eye and suddenly everything becomes clear; no I’m talking about something more deep.
There is no shortage of ways to come up with entrepreneurial ideas, ways of doing something better, ways of thinking, approaches to problem solving, etc.. Companies are started everyday, most are copycats of what already exists, of what is hyped, of what already works.