Find that job: Lesson 79. Nothing succeeds like failure
One of the main factors that stop entrepreneurs from pursuing WOW projects is the fear of failure. But failure is an essential ingredient of a future success. In fact, Tom Peters, an influential American business thinker, argues that nothing succeeds like failure. You should therefore reward excellent failures and punish mediocre success. Here's what he has to say about it.
Here's an 'excellent failure': You take a bold leap forward. Ooops! It hasn't worked! You're bruised and battered, maybe even broke. Well, good for you! What!? Why!? Because you went for it! You made a step towards the land of WOW. No WOW project ever comes into being without your willingness to court excellent failures! If you are not going to fail 8 out of 10 times, says Peters, you're doing something wrong.
Mediocre success may be just fine for mediocre business people, but don't you want to live in a WOW land? Far too many intelligent people waste far too much effort pursuing just another mediocre success. That's what they have in common: they focus on minimizing risks, respecting the chain of command, supporting the boss and making budgets.
Look at a history book. Pull out 50 names. Drop the jerks, like Hitler or Stalin. Then look at the rest. Einstein. Gandhi. King. Newton. Picasso. Skłodowska-Curie. Did anyone on that list pay attention to minimized risks? Supported the boss? Made budgets?
As Churchill put it, 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.' So - fall. Fast. You'll succeed sooner.
a SłOWNICZEK
to succeed - powieść się, osiągnąć sukces
failure - porażka, niepowodzenie, upadek, bankructwo, plajta
factor - czynnik
entrepreneur - przedsiębiorca
to pursue - dążyć/zmierzać do czegoś, zajmować się, rozwijać
wow - (potocznie) sukces, również: wow! - okrzyk zachwytu
WOW project - świetny/wspaniały/genialny projekt
ingredient - składnik
to reward - nagradzać
to punish - karać
bold - odważny, śmiały
leap forward - skok/wielki krok naprzód
bruised - posiniaczony, poobijany, zgnębiony
battered - poturbowany, zdewastowany
broke - spłukany, zrujnowany, bez grosza
to go for it - podjąć się czegoś, rzucić się na coś z zapałem, wykorzystać szansę
to come into being - zaistnieć, zmaterializować się
willingness - chęć, ochota, gotowość
to court - tu: igrać (z czymś)
to fail - ponieść porażkę
mediocre - mierny, pośledni
to focus - koncentrować się
chain of command - hierarchia służbowa
to support - popierać
to pull out - wyciągnąć
to drop - tu: wyeliminować, odrzucić
jerk - palant, dureń, głupek, 'psych'
to pay attention - zwracać uwagę
ability - umiejętność
loss - strata
to fall - upadać
powerless - bezsilny
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