Photo: "Mistakes" by Herman Yunge true that in the business (like at school or in sport) "mistakes you learn"?

The study, conducted by Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner and David Scharfstein, shows that an entrepreneur who starts for the first time, a business has 18% chance of success, an entrepreneur with a failure behind them has 20%, those who have already been successful (with a start-up that grew and was listed on the stock exchange) has 30%.
Who has failed once, then, has (almost) the same probability of success of those who have never done business.
The failure, by itself, does not seem, therefore, a guarantee of growth and better future results.
What, then, that can turn a failure by a fruitless waste of time and money to a learning, discovery and change?
1.
Failure as an opportunity for verification: "Cursed victory, defeat blessed" (Josefa Idem)
Frank and Dan Carney, in 1958, ran a small pizzeria to pay for their university studies.
After about twenty years, they sold Pizza Hut, a chain with over 3,000 outlets, for three hundred million dollars.
"The most important lesson I learned - says Frank Carney - is that you have to learn to lose.
I started almost fifty different business activities and, of these, only fifteen worked: that means I have an average of about 30%.
I realized that you do not learn when you are winning, but when, after a defeat, you are able to react and start again. "
In fact, when something negative happens (we lose a major customer, our project does not go well, we organized an event that proves a flop, etc.), We tend to look at our work.
Such "audits" are valuable because they help us understand how, taken from the daily grind, do not understand the changes taking place around us.
Ask yourself: "What would I do today if I had not already consolidated this approach (partnership, project, etc.)?
"; "When was the last time I questioned my way to work?
"; "What I can foresee trends in the current scenario?
".
Try to "revolutionize" the way you work, to relate with customers, etc.
2.
Failure learning as: "Failure is inevitable, we must become masters in the art of failure" (Charlene Li)
Those who decide to move in innovation choose to leave the known paths and venture into uncharted territories and this, in itself, involves some risk.
Scott Anthony, CEO of Innosight, believes it is particularly useful for "intelligent failures".
"The intelligent failures, which occur quickly and at low cost, often lead to new insights about your products or your customers.
They should be not only tolerated but also encouraged, "says Antony.
"We Are understanding how to manage this process (fast and low cost) failure and learning that leads to success is probably one of the most important things that companies need to learn."
As we do, though, to recognize these "intelligent failure"?
Amy Edmondson, in his article in the Harvard Business Review article "Strategies for Learning from Failure", argues that there are three categories of errors: "avoidable ones in the foreseeable activities, which usually involve departures from; those inevitable in complex systems that may result from unique combinations of needs, people and problems, and finally, the smart ones at the border, where "good" failures occur rapidly and on a small scale, providing the most valuable information. "
Ask yourself: "What efforts 'fast and low cost' I can experience in my work?
"; "How far can I push myself to explore new areas of innovation in my professional field?
. "
3.
Failure as a discovery: "The case helps prepare the minds" (Louis Pasteur)
Alexander Fleming, in 1928, he was studying in his laboratory of St. Martin in London, of Staphylococcus aureus cultures (a bacterium responsible for the formation of pus).
A glass container, exposed to air by mistake, had been covered with green mold and culture of staphylococci had almost disappeared. "That's funny", that funny thing, says to himself Fleming.
Intrigued, analyzes and discovers that the mold is made up of microscopic fungi (Penicillium notatum), which, in contact with staphylococcus, produce a bactericidal liquid, which Fleming called penicillin.
Maybe a scientist less attentive, or maybe just as curious, would not have found out ...
In 1968 Spencer Silver, a researcher at 3M, he is developing a new glue particularly strong and resistant.
In preparing the formula, experiments with different combinations of ingredients and, at a certain point, obtains a very weak adhesive, which detaches easily.
The formula is considered useless and archived.
Arthur Fry, a colleague of Silver, sings in the choir of North Presbyterian Church and has a problem: bookmarks putting in scores, to keep the sign of the songs, they always fall (as the lectern is vertical), causing him to lose patience and concentration.
In 1974 he was the idea (sounds during a boring sermon) to apply on the bland sticky adhesive designed by Silver.
The sticky "repositionable" Fry are used successfully by both the choir or by colleagues in the office to take notes, to attach annotations on practices, etc.
After three years, given the insistence of Fry (and colleagues), 3M patented and put into production the "Press and Peel Notes", which, in 1980, will take the name of "Post-it Notes."
Ask yourself: "In this negative situation, I can see some interesting element?
"; "What opportunities conceals this 'unexpected' or this 'failure'?
".
4.
Failure as an experience: "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
(Winston Churchill)
NASA, the early '50s, has the problem of isolating moisture and corrosion protection the electrical contacts of the rockets.
It is aimed, therefore, to its suppliers asking them to invent a water repellent (Water Displacement) capable of solving this problem.
Norm Larsen, founder of the Rocket Chemical Company, gets together with his two co-workers and begins to experiment with different formulas.
For every failure noted what works and what needs to be changed, reflect, change, proceeds, despite dozens of failures, with great attention and determination.
After 39 experiments-failures can, in 1953, to identify, at last, the perfect formula and calls his WD-40 product.
Its lubricating oil is effective not only in the aerospace industry, but also in many other areas, becoming, very quickly, a successful product.
"Every entrepreneur" - confesses Richard Branson - "failed numerous times before you succeed: the most important thing is to continue to get up and try again."
Several companies, such as Gore and Intuit Inc., "celebrate" with a beer also projects that do not succeed, because I am firmly convinced that the face-risk part of the game, which is connected both to failure is success.
Roberto Bonzio, (friend), creator of the "Italian Border", he said: "If a guy in Silicon Valley start up a business to create something new and it fails, is tipped as one who has tried it; in most of the rest of the world, however, it is tipped as one that has failed. "
Ask yourself: "Where could take me this failure?
"; "What new horizons of research or development may arise from this situation?
".
Take a few minutes every week to share and "rework" serenely errors of the people working with you.
"Because this error occurred?
"; "How can we react, the next time, in such situations?
".
Less scapegoats and more concrete proposals.
What can turn a failure (unproductive) in a valuable opportunity for growth, ultimately, it is the ability to analyze what went wrong, to capture important elements to change our way of thinking and looking at reality, to experience new opportunities and new ways of acting.
They are born of the community in recent years, which can help young entrepreneurs to meet, to share experiences and make the most mistakes and failures (own and others).
"Autopsy" is a platform that contains dozens of startups stories that do not have it made; presents, schematically, the initial idea, the reasons (main) why it did not work and the story of the founder.
'The failure institute "analyzes the most common causes of failure of a startup and organizes" Fuckup nights ", the" live "events (in over 150 cities in 53 countries) where entrepreneurs who have failed recount experiences and error that goes worth knowing.
You can also download the "Fuckup book" a collection of short stories, and sympathetic practical exercises to learn as much as possible, from their failures.
I like to think that mistakes and failures, as recalled by Wendell Philips, are not "Nothing but a teaching, nothing but the first step toward something better."
The importance of Microsoft attempting the "road work less to work better"

From Wired