Fail faster. Succeed sooner.

[that quote from David Kelley, founder of IDEO Product Design, says quite enough. Read it. Again. and again. and again!]


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Failure 101 - a lesson from the great one

If you feel like you fail too often, or you're scared of failing, or even that you just don't know what it will take to succeed from where you are now, please, PLEASE watch this brilliant clip with one of the greatest professional athletes of all time [in my mind, the greatest].

I first saw this Nike advert about 10 years ago [guesstimate], and its stuck with me ever since. Just the way Michael Jordan puts it - absolutely mind-blowing when taken in context that he could be considered, by those stats to be a huge failure - but he has used it to spur him on to greatness. I find it very encouraging, and hope you do too.

[here's the link to the video]

Schooling - R50,000. University education - R100,000. Failure - priceless.

Fail faster. Succeed sooner. [from Tom Peters - Reimagine]

Let that one sink in a bit.


Fail faster.



Succeed sooner.



Just beautiful. If only we understood it. I mean really got it. Can you imagine? World-beating innovation; rock bottom unemployment levels; double digit GDP growth. In South Africa???

I think some people do get the idea, for example: Justin Hartman; Vinny Lingham; Ideate; Eve Dmochowska; Adii [and those mentioned here]; and Tycoon [and these mentions too]. Mark Shuttleworth also took the entire concept a step forward with HBD, and only time [and Vinny] will tell just how this will play out.

Pity the banks don't get it. Government either. Or even our local experts - the VC funders.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh?

How can we only start businesses or lend money on the back of guaranteed [or at least 99.9% certain] success? After all, you can't score a touchdown sitting on the sidelines.

As a society I firmly believe we [including myself] need to take more risks. Back the players! And those who want to play and are willing to get out on the field.

The true failure will come in not realising that the current way of doing things doesn't work... and not taking any action to correct it. Surely we [SA] can fix this without selling ourselves up the river?


Unforunately this reality of avoiding mistakes permeates our entire culture - not only is it highly evident in our entrepreneurial blueprint [as painfully described above] but its also crystal clear in existing organisations -

How come when an employee makes a mistake [lets assume its a fairly big one] they are so often dismissed? Please can anybody tell me - why on earth get rid of someone who now has incredibly important experience, just so that you can bring in someone new and inexperienced?

Two reasons for my question:

1. Who do you think is more likely to make that same mistake in the future? My money says it won't be the guy who already did it.
2. At least he tried something. Failure to act is far worse than failing as a result of action. And what the organisation learns from that failure could be unbelievably valuable.

Sorry, but this looks like a no-brainer to me. And this we can change!


As Michael Jordan [one of the most successful athletes ever] says: "I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."


[Title inspired by MasterCard's entertaining "Priceless" ad campaign]

Retail rules - what is face value?

Just one little observation... for a retail business [whether selling goods, like a clothing boutique, or selling services, like a restaurant], client-facing staff are absolutely integral to the purchase experience.

And if there's one thing that will make the experience positive for the customer, its this...

... make sure that the staff that the client sees [tellers / assistants / waiters / whoever] greet the customer and smile

Retail owners take note - this is BIG. Do not take it for granted.

I can't count the number of stores that I've been into lately where this does not happen - I can't remember them either. However, I can remember the ones where it does happen.

So, do you want your store to be memorable, or don't you?


[Note - just came across this... seems someone here is intent on South Africa taking this whole customer service thing seriously -> The Institute of Extreme Customer Service. I can't vouch for whether its working or not as there seem to have been two updates since February this year - hopefully they haven't gone MIA.]

Here we grow again...

And on the subject of growth just discussed... it seems like one of the world's largest growth engines has found a working formula, although the road is not without its bumps.



For a company its size, Google has managed to generate phenomenal levels of growth. As this recent article on the company's results suggests, the company's investment in a key resource - staff - is the main driver behind this.

How else can a company of this size justify such a large increase in staff - they certainly break the mould be viewing their staff as an investment rather than a cost. Sure, lots of companies say they do this, and then they proceed to quibble over marginal inflation-based increases [really, what does inflation have to do with an individual company's growth or value generated?].

So yes, Google "blew it" on overspending on staff. I say WELL DONE! Profits are awesome, but they are building into the future rather than just trying to maximise their current results.

We as South African businesses [sadly we are not amongst the most innovative nations in the world - could this be why?] can certainly learn from this.

The Great Business Growth Enigma

Many a business has sprung forth from the imaginative genius of an entrepreneurial architect. And looking around today, its easy to find small one-man [or several person] businesses... and big, BIG businesses which successfully made the transition over a period of time [generally several decades].

This is not an easy, or pleasant process, as many would note, and takes careful planning, smart execution and without doubt - an element of luck.

One of the companies I deal with is currently in the process of trying to make this jump. It seems to me that to make this happen requires a serious shift in mindset for all involved...

so the big questions is:


It's all about choice, but as an entrepreneur - to make the big jump - how do you choose something which defies every bone in your body and every action you've taken to build your business from scratch?

Performance: To come this far, you've had to believe in something nobody could see, take chances, make some educated guesses [and possibly some un-educated ones too?] and strive to be different, to succesfully differentiate from other competitors out there - to attract the best talent, make the best product or provide the best service, and be nothing short of scintillating.

Conformance: Now, being BIG doesn't require anything other than being efficient, economical and streamlining your business in every possible way. But what does that mean? Cost cutting? Saving? Being conservative and not saying what you want, when you want? Hardly the makings of a scintillating experience... but it does bring stability, fairness, steadiness. All those characteristics that make BIG companies big... and unfortunately cover them in red-tape too.

Certainly this is not an easy step to take for any entrepreneur or small business. I don't know how one would successfully balance the two - or is it simply a case of choosing one or the other? Sacrificing creativity, flair, attitude for size, stability and control?

I'll explore this one again soon...

What is a new business?

A new business / company is... an opportunity

... to re-invent an industry

...... to design a new life for an individual

.......... to revolutionise your community and country


A new business is also

an exciting opportunity [EXCITEMENT, INC.]

and potentially a new lease on life.



For all the hardened veterans out there who have all the battle scars - you can stop laughing now. Even if you don't see it this way now, its the way it should be! If you don't believe it, perhaps you need to take a year off and reassess what's really important in life.

Okay, all you young, wide-eyed, uninitiated hopefuls out there - don't think that all these ideals and aspirations don't come with risk attached, either. We can't live in fantasy world, but if we can acknowledge the reality of the situation and still try to change the world ... yeah baby!

Real entrepreneurs aside, Western culture has seen a new breed of "entrepreneur" [I use the term loosely] rise up in the Venture Capitalist - something I admit I previously aspired to. For anyone who is even remotely interested in this, I highly recommend reading this article on the Venture Capital Aptitude Test by Guy Kawasaki. Then do the test. The questions drive home just what a mindshift some young aspiring entrepreneurs need.

Now my intention with this is not to put off yuong business hopefuls. In fact, its the opposite - I want us to see what's really important. Not sitting in a boardroom making decisions based on an Excel spreadsheet and some fancy business school model. Its about getting out there, getting your hands dirty and experiencing the reality of what we're living in. Some are made for it, some aren't. I intend finding out which category I fit into.


P.S. I scored a 6. Wonder if I should put that on my CV?


.

When £40,000 is just a drop in the ocean...

I was going through an old magazine and came across a fascinating story which really does prove the theory about hindsight. And about how wrong the 'experts' [aka cynics] can be.

Then - From '.net' magazine, December 1995 issue:
"Money made over the Net shocker - Cynics say that the only way to make money out of the Net is to run a seminar telling people how to make money out of the Net, but Virgin has proved them wrong. The Megastore shop on CompuServe has received orders for more than £40,000 of music CDs, games and videos in 23 weeks. It's not nearly in the same league as the high street, but it's getting there."

Now - From Google's Fiscal Year 2006 results:
Revenues for the year $ 10.6 billion
Net income for the year $ 3.1 billion

Well, I wonder what those cynics have to say now. Lesson learned - if you believe in something, don't let the experts, or anybody for that matter, tell you its impossible. You might just be right.