Tag Archives: failure

IBM: Early failure is a necessary investment in innovation

in Innovation, Strategy

I’m reading Switch: How to change things when change is hard by the Heath brothers and in one of the middle chapters called Grow your people there’s a very important lesson on the topic of the fear of failure when provoking change. Here are some thoughts:

Since everything is hard before it is easy, in order to create change we have to be able to move people to a different set of behaviors and most of the time this is where the problem exists because people fear situations that are unknown. To keep people motivated in the long road to change, you need to create the expectation of failure.

According to the Heath brothers learning from failure begins with having the right mindset. A person with a is more likely to view failure as learning as opposed to one who has a fixed mindset and prefers routine tasks, therefore we must work to cultivate a growth mindset in your organization.

I think this where it all starts because as humans we’ve been programmed to think that ‘failure is wrong’ when really and so we’re taught to ignore the middle part of the process where all the learning takes place. The middle is the journey, where the ups and downs happen and you need the will to break through.

As the Economist recently mentioned, the key to the success to any change initiative is that first:

 

Leaders of organizations should allow their innovators to be scientists and tell our teams we don’t expect 100 percent success in early experiments. The important thing is to learn from failed experiments early in the process and use those lessons to map out a path to success.

 

For the purpose of credibility here’s a story from the book that I think is worth highlighting:

*Failing is often the best way to learn and because of that early failure is a kind of necessary investment. A famous story about IBM makes the point well. In the 1960’s, an executive at IBM made a decision that ended up losing the company $10 million. The CEO of IBM, Tom Watson, summoned the offending executive to his office at corporate headquarters. The journalist Paul B. Carroll described what happened next:

 

As the executive cowered, Watson asked, “Do you know why I’ve asked you here?”

The man replied, “I assume I’m here so you can fire me.”

Watson looked surprised.

“Fire you?” he asked. “Of course not. I just spent $10 million educating you.”

 

I’m almost finished reading the book and will post any other thoughts I think are worth mentioning.

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Innovation posts of the week: Management innovation at W.L. Gore

in Must reads of the week

Lessons from a Middle-Aged Revolutionary at W.L. Gore &

« Clay Shirky

– PARC blog

– Harvard Business Review

– Harvard Business Review

Experiments – the Key to Innovation – Innovation Leadership Network

– Harvard Business Review

– Harvard Business Review

Failure is an idea not an outcome

in Innovation, Strategy, Success

the eagle

We are all failures – at least, all the best of us are. – J.M. Barrie

As a society, what keeps us from creating anything worthwhile?

FEAR.

Rock climbing requires a tremendous amount of focus. You need to keep your emotions in check in the ever present fear of falling to your death. If don’t control your fear, you die. It’s that simple!

For climbers falling isn’t failing, falling is just part of succeeding. …

Must read innovation stories of the week: Dare to question the status quo

in Must reads of the week

Nothing is ever set in stone.

The status quo (how things are ‘normally done’) is usually something that is taken for granted like a religion, it makes people feel safe because it becomes something very predictable. As we grow older this natural tendency to conform and comply to set behaviors becomes worse because we need life to be more predictable, but the truth is we live in a world that’s in constant flux where nothing ever stays the same.

To counter this we must call on our inner child (yes we all have it and it’s still there). As a child everything was to be discovered, questioning the world around them is something very natural. We never stopped asking ‘WHY’.

Do you know It’s because of their never ending attempt to getting to the truth.

And just like a kid to whom everything is new, we too must regain our sense of wonder by questioning how the world is supposed to work. If we truly want to change the world we have to questions the status quo.

When was the last time you dared question the status quo?

 

 

Adapt or die

in Strategy, Success

A few days ago I found myself reading one of the many posts out there about X reasons why brands refuse to embrace social media. The truth is many companies are already irrelevant because they fail to see the world as continuously evolving.

First it’s important to understand that as humans we are taught to see everything as a phase because it makes it easier for us to make sense of things by being able to separate one event from the others. The problem with this way of thinking is it tries to make everything predictable in the short term by not focusing on the long term consequences.

Win today and don’t worry about tomorrow.

Adaptability requires a you to see events as continuous, not linear. For an adaptable company change is always happening, not just between events. The objective of being adaptable is to be able to win as many times as possible but not worry about winning every single battle.

Stories abound of companies that became irrelevant because they , choosing to follow a predictable death. Most of these companies waited until chaos arrived to make adjustments and others clinged to the past. Why wait until chaos comes knocking on your door, and it should be part of your strategy because if you don’t adapt you’re already irrelevant.

Action step:

An exercise that always works wonders is showing people a vision where they no longer exist because they failed to adapt. Try it yourself, grab a few people from your office and ask them about the challenges facing your business:

  • What they’re most afraid of?
  • What keeps them up at night?

If they don’t have a clear answer for both, you’re already in trouble because you’re sitting in a very comfortable position and nothing is challenging your business.

What do you think? What actions do you take to make your business adaptable?