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Defankle: Democratising Excellent Innovation | Inclusion | Collaboration | Sustainable Systems | Design
‘Fail’ is a very emotional word. Failing at a task, failing to live up to someone’s expectations, failing to finish what you started… it all feels so disappointing. Breastfeeding, job promotion, banana bread, grant applications... Very few people operate entirely without ego (I’ve yet to meet anyone who’d fit this description), so for just about everyone, failure feels like a kick in the guts. No-one likes it. Yet business is full of people who laud the benefits of failure. The tone of some of the conversation about failing is full of positivity – pride, even. The clear message is that failure can teach us a lot. The freedom to fail can see like an exclusive privilege but it is important everyone can. No-one ever won a silver medal at the Olympics without trying to win gold, so there’s a lot to be said for giving it your best shot. I think the whole conversation needs some context though. Nuance is important, and rarely more so when it comes to the future of your business. Experimentation is a cornerstone of innovation and growth, and not many innovations get it right first time. Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, the founder of Genius foods, reportedly wore out ovens and food mixers in her mission to find a recipe for gluten free bread. But here’s the trick – she had a clear mission. Each failure took her a step closer to what has become an extremely successful ‘free-from’ food brand. Her tenacity was based on a clear strategic outcome in her mind. It would be easy to conclude from the various commentators out there that failure, in any form, is a good thing. Dust yourself off, start again, and you’re the kind of resilient, plucky go-getter that any business would be lucky to have on-board. Except that’s not really how it works. Somewhere in between the chaotic firestorm which accepts failure as a badge of honour, and the tightly-wound autocracy which permits none, lies a strategic, methodical approach to innovation. This approach understands that failure is just one part of the process, but it’s very much part of a process. Tom Watson, the founder of IBM, once said: “If you want to success faster, make more mistakes.” This is true, but not unequivocally so. Managed as part of a process where the team responsible for innovation understands the strategic intent of the project, with clear parameters set in advance, pushing innovation to the point of failure can be hugely beneficial. Just like scientists experimenting in a lab can make small incremental steps towards success, so can bolder experiments lead to those ‘Eureka’ moments which take you huge leaps forward in a single bound. But let’s put ‘failure’ in its proper place. Don’t allow failure to continue indefinitely, or bet the farm on an untested, leftfield stab in the dark. Sure, if it works then it might make a great business book one day. But one-in-a-million shots are called that for a reason. Picture illustrating Abi's failure to find a nice corporate picture. WIP.