Does failure lead to success? Only if you know how...
Author: RhaK.Cardinale Total views: 26 Word Count: 1127
"It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world" Charles F. Kettering.
Most businesses continue to struggle by approaching highly dynamic markets with risk aversion as their primary guide. Yet, in recent times, the organisations that have continually outperformed the pack are perennial risk takers. They are the innovators. When it comes to innovation, it becomes impossible to distinguish success from failure.
Consider the years after Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard Law School before Microsoft became a corporation. Mary, his mother, and undoubtedly others, could only see it as an epic failure.
We are often overly hasty in describing something as a success or failure, coming to conclusions when, in fact, the jury is still out. It is important to remember that "failures" often lead us to the deep learning from which great ideas emerge. Far from being night and day opposites, the line between success and failure is, in fact, indistinct.
The indistinct line between success and failure is often not seen clearly. Perhaps it would be more helpful to view that line as an interchangeable relationship of two supporting halves.
In western society the mindset often is to see things in a dualistic oppositional term, such as black or white, day or night, sunny or rainy, sweet or salty, and so on. When in fact, these cannot exist without each other and often are found together much like the sun usually can be seen somewhere on a rainy day, and clouds can be seen on seemingly sunny days. The eastern philosophy tends to embrace this duality as a dancing paradox that is part of life. The relaxed view can be seen in their explanatory terms sweet and sour, yang and yang, and therefore all things are seen on a level that promotes success, crisis is only the transition to something better.
Success and Failure Leading Each Other: Have you noticed that short term successes often are followed by hard to recover disasters? That is because quick fixes usually back fire. It's sort of like a runner who happened across a sandy lot and decided to take it as a short cut, only to find that a few steps into it he steps on a thorny plant. He stops and picks out the thorn and keeps running, only to find himself in the middle of the thorny sand lot with thorns puncturing through the soles of his shoes. The only way to pick them out is to brace himself onto the ground that is over run by thorns, only to receive more and more thorns with every move. Having reached a good distance into this disaster area means that any way out will only treat him to more thorns and more pain. What was once a seemingly successful shortcut now becomes an utter failure.
An Innovation Approach: Japanese Samurai: Innovation is not a topsy-turvy unpredictable path that seems to lead straight into nowhere. It is a highly valuable and learned skill that must be mastered. Therefore, if you truly want to be mentored simply look to the Japanese Samurai for direction. Their life style and philosophy to life can provide examples of this art.
It is well known that Samurais were amongst the most effective, fiercest and bravest warriors that ever lived. What is less known is central mindset that guided their actions. Samurais recognised that focusing on victory was an impediment to winning a fight, a battle or a war.
They simply recognized that focusing on victory would impede their abilities to win. They honed a rather invaluable skill of constantly being in the present. The will to win, then, was not the vision of winning; it was all the moments up to the point of victory. Their creed was that of achieving the goal by ignoring it.
The vision may be as large as Microsoft, or IBM, or may be one of their successful products, but the most anyone can see is the next step. The most important part of reaching our goals, then, is to bring our attention to the present moment. While it is okay to take a short glance at the future or past and apply them to the present, the key is to keep our mindset in the present.
The enemy is looking into the future for what might go wrong or relying on the past for what will go right. The goal, therefore, is intended to be made and then filed away. Once you learn to let go of the goal you will learn to free up your mind to generate the steps to reach it. It may seem that some steps are irrational, but these must be taken. The greatest innovation were not based on what worked before, but were built on the known factors that needed to be taken as risks and that had to be acted on with a gut instinct.
Collaboration and Input: Any great goal requires a great team. This means that collaboration, speaking up, listening to new ideas and looking at it from another's prospective will achieve the greatest final performance. A prime example would be the philosophy found at IBM, "The greater the level of collaborative innovation, the greater the financial performance. This requires acquiring the skills needed to work together as one. Leave the leadership desires at the door, and collaborate to come out of top.
Sometimes massive innovation flops, such as New Coke, will bite hard for a time only to become the greatest of booms in the longer term. The good news is that if you constantly practice innovation you will learn how to turn your failures into successes and build upon that which is working.
Fear is what holds us back from moving forward. In order to master your innovative self you need to release that fear of failure and the need to succeed. Attempting to orientate the outcome that leads to innovation usually kills the success. If you, your team, your boss, or your employee has a pattern of needing to know the outcome, then the generated result will be that of caution, fear, paralysis, and loss of production that stand in the way of achieving that innovation and therefore, results.
To truly embrace success you need to consistently work on developing a culture that is founded on reinvention. Only in consistently evolving to the needs of the company and the changing economy can you succeed in reaching your goal.
Businesses need to take a lesson form our children; there are some great things they can teach us. The biggest is that of having an open mind and being able to receive and send a vision, constantly looking at the world with a fresh eyed wonder. They simply cast aside entrenched beliefs, taboos, habits, patterns, belief systems, and strongly rooted thought habits.
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About the Author
About the author: Rha K. Cardinale is an expert at transforming organisations and to easily create a culture of innovation. see the "exciting Leadership" website for more exciting ideas on building innovative teams
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