Failing Is Learning; Fail Fast to Learn Faster

It was Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb and other mainstays of the modern world, who said, “I haven’t failed, I’ve just found ten thousand ways that don’t work.”

This concept is lost on many in the information age, unfortunately. Because of the immediacy with which we receive both positive and negative feedback from our peers now, when we innovate and put something into the world and promptly receive less than desirable results, or it doesn’t work the way we wanted it to, we are more easily discouraged than ever before.

Now consider a larger-scale company with a much bigger audience than a small, local business, creating a new product or service that crashes and burns tremendously. You can imagine their resistance to try new things, given that level of pressure.

However, failing is key in every innovative process, regardless of how established you are. First, if you’re not failing, you’re not pursuing innovation, and when you do fail, rebound quickly and start all over again. This is the idea behind my powerful strategy: Fail Fast to Learn Faster.

Many Failures, One Success

As mentioned above, the immediacy of the information age, coupled with the speed of exponential technological change and digital disruption, creates a solicitude in the hearts of every…