As I’ve already discussed at length, I attended Big Omaha earlier this month. One of the major themes of the day was the concept of failure. Apparently in the entrepreneurial world, failure is something that people talk about a lot.
Jason Fried started off the day by claiming that he didn’t understand the whole concept of “fail early and often”. Micah “Me-ha” Baldwin had a whole session (and accompanying blog) dedicated to the concept of failure that I just didn’t get initially. After discussing the topic with him further via e-mail, I began to understand the purpose of his talk:
But since I accept failure as part of the process, I just adjust and move on.
His intent with the talk was to make failure less scary. My focus as a corporate marketer has always been failure aversion. Bottom lines can speak volumes and one failure in the corporate world can be devastating to your career, but ultimately, to be truly successful you have to be willing to take chances. You may fail. But you might also succeed wildly.
This concept reminds me of one of Sally Hogshead’s brilliant pieces of advice in her book, Radical Careering, which I read and reviewed back in 2006 as I went into a major career transition:
#85: Jump, and a net will appear.
Boldness is something that many people struggle with. Those who have met me or know me well would probably argue that I have little issues with boldness, but that would be untrue. In my career, I’ve played it safe much more than I’ve been bold.
I’d like to change that.
That’s not to say that I’m going to start being a loose cannon at the office, fearless of failure because “it doesn’t matter — and this was my main point with my initial opposition to Micah’s point — you should still strive to succeed every time you get the chance. If you put yourself in situations where you can succeed, always make that effort.
Just don’t be afraid of failure. Be bold and confident. Success will follow.
Great post. I think another point I was trying to make (I love sounding like I am unsure of the points I was trying to make) was that we are formed by the series of decisions we make and their outcomes. Failure/Success are just a single coupling of decision/outcome. There is no difference between the two…other than our perceptions of the decision/outcome coupling.
Now, I am going to go get that book Radical Careering…sounds interesting…
Well said, Shane. I found this concept to be really confusing, too. Coming from the world of TV news, we never made decisions that could bring down FOX. Now that I’m in a position where experimentation is a part of the process, I understand the “failure” fascination more.
I think there is so much to be said about fear and failure. You can fear being criticized, being wrong, being embarrassed, being hurt. You can say it a million ways but it’s all about fear and failing. But in my experience if an idea isn’t worth criticizing, it’s probably not worth defending.
If failing isn’t possible neither is big success. It’s playing the Powerball — you never lose much but you aren’t going to win big either.
I really try not to hold back. I figure at least people will be talking about my ideas (I really like it when people talk about me) and my ideas might get better through it. At most, my idea wins.
I think an idea cannot be a good idea if it is not criticized.
My criteria for doing something controversial goes like this:
* Am I going to lose a friend?
* Am I going to get punched?
If my answer is ‘no’ to those questions and my only reason is that I might get laughed at, in a debate or I might be wrong, I say what I think.
I have plenty of examples of how taking a risk has paid off big for me:
* I started and sold a company to a Sunnyvale-based company when I was 19 years old.
* I’ve worked all over the world. 4 continents last year. 13 countries total.
Thanks for sharing!
This is much needed. Gracias.