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The Upside of Failure: Be Willing To Stumble To Retain Your Edge
“Be innovative—just don’t fail.”
Those are the marching orders executives love to hand out to their project managers. But can a team take risks and try new things while steering clear of even the slightest whiff of disappointment?
The answer is no. Failure is a part of the process. If a company is trying something that’s never been done before, chances are pretty good it will crash and burn every now and then.
“Failure is a necessary evil of innovation,” says Jerry Manas, PMP, senior writer and editor at Planview, a portfolio management software organization in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, USA.
“For every Gmail, there are Gnotes and Google Buzz. Those were considered failures,” says Mr. Manas, author of Napoleon on Project Management: Timeless Lessons in Planning, Execution, and Leadership [Thomas Nelson, 2006].
The best way to transform a bleeding-edge concept into a viable business strategy that lets a company stake its spot as a true leader is to acknowledge that not everything will pan out.
And the push to innovation can’t come to a screeching halt when a company dreams up a game-changing product or service. Too many organizations launch revolutionary projects and then shun risk once they make their mark. Yet in the process, they sacrifice their leadership position. “More adventurous…
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"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons." - Douglas Adams |