Business Opportunities Weblog

February 13, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

The New York Times:

Successful entrepreneurs invariably say that they have learned as much from their failures as their successes.

Counterintuitive as that may sound, there is something to it, Jeff Wuorio writes.

Among the advantages, he contends, are these:

• Failure underscores the need to take chances. The cliché is right: If you take no risks, there will be no rewards. And if you are taking risks, almost by definition, you are going to fail at some point.
• “Success can breed complacency.” If everything goes right all the time, you are less likely to try something new.
• Failure can force you to rethink every assumption. “When something goes wrong, not only do you consider the various means of fixing that particular problem, you notch up your thinking to identify those broader elements that may have led to the snafu and others like it. And down the line, that can mean solutions and adjustments before any further problems even crop up.”

Why is it so hard for us to learn from our mistakes? First, individuals experience negative emotions when examining their own failures, and this can chip away at self-confidence and self-esteem. Most people prefer to put past mistakes behind them rather than revisit and unpack them for greater understanding.

“Second, conducting an analysis of a failure requires a spirit of inquiry and openness, patience, and a tolerance for ambiguity,” they add. “However, most managers admire and are rewarded for decisiveness, efficiency, and action rather than for deep reflection and painstaking analysis.”

And finally people may not like the answers they come up.

Photo by thephoenix.com.

In Uncategorized | 0 Comments
Tags: Competition, Goals, Operations