Posted By: Staff Editor In: Business Professional By Joe Calloway, author of Work Like You're Showing Off
It may seem counterintuitive, but in order to succeed, you must be willing to fail. Almost everyone will agree that their organization must be innovative in order to stay competitive. Innovation means you go first and going first means there are no guarantees of success.
Innovative organizations understand that in trying new ideas there comes the risk of making mistakes. They also understand that mistakes are seldom fatal. Mistakes can be great sources of new information. You fix them and learn from them. What can be fatal in a constantly changing marketplace is the failure to take action.
Business guru the late Peter Drucker once said that consistently successful businesses are led by people who are willing to make courageous decisions. Where does the courage come into play? It comes in the willingness to let go of what we are used to and the assumptions that we have made about what we do and how we do it.
The great thing about failure and making mistakes is that you almost always gain valuable information in the process. Mark Twain said "I once knew a man who picked a cat up by the tail. He learned forty per cent more about cats than the man who did not." You might get scratched up, but trying and failing, when done so within the limits of responsible behavior, can be the source of your greatest education.
Consider whether your organization encourages people to truly think outside the box and try new ideas. If you don't, you are in danger of being left behind in the wake of competitors who are willing to take reasonable risks in the interest of discovering new and better ways of doing business.
There is great truth in the old saying: The biggest risk is in not taking one.
Author Joe Calloway is a business author, performance consultant, and restaurant owner whose client list reads like a "Who's Who" in business. From Saks Fifth Avenue and BMW to American Express and IBM, a wide range of companies depend on Joe for insight into today's marketplace.
Joe is on the faculty of The Center for Professional Development at Belmont University, and is a partner in Mirror, an award-winning restaurant in Nashville, which was recently featured on television�s Food Network.
Sales and Marketing Management magazine called Joe "an expert on developing customer focused teams," and a National Customer Services Advisory Board called Joe "one of the most innovative and compelling people in customer service."
Joe is the best-selling author of Becoming a Category of One, which received rave reviews from the New York Times, Retailing Today and many others. He is also the author of Indispensable: How to Become the Company Your Customers Can't Live Without.
Joe's newest book is Work Like You're Showing Off! -- The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today.
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