Fail 9 Times to Succeed

Fail nine times in order to succeed.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

The ability to accept failure as part of the learning process is just one of the great insights from: The Five Elements of Effective Thinking 

Leadership Tools: Fail 9 Times Effective Thinking. Book: The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward Burger and Michael Starbird

Most decisions in life and business are not the equivalent of jumping out of a plane without a parachute.  Too many times people spend more time delaying rather than just starting to move forward.  

This does not mean moving forward without a plan when a clear plan is possible.  What it does mean is that many times when you are learning something new it is best to just get started climbing the mountain.  

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

Winston Churchill

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Thomas A. Edison

If you are inventing the light bulb then you probably have to plan to fail 10,000 times.  

For most other things in business you should put the number of 10 in your head - like a punch card at the local sandwich shop.  

Make the best plan you can and move quickly to execution.  Fail. Study the failure. Adjust. Repeat.  

Get excited because you are 10% of the way there! 

Most of the time you will succeed within 10 tries and it will have a huge positive impact on your business as long as you learned from all the failures.




Cash Flow Myth 1 - Profitability Does Not Equal Cash Flow
Cash flow does not equal profitability. While in theory these two critical scoreboard metrics are disconnected in reality cash flow is a pretty reliable predictor of profitability both good and bad.
Talent Funnel - The Macro Viewpoint
To better cope with some of the talent shortages that growing contractors are facing, it is important to look at talent through a similar lens as we would sales, putting them into a funnel and approximate timelines. We have to start with the big picture.
Stop Doing Things - Peter F. Drucker
The tendency as a leader’s role evolves is to keep adding things to their list of responsibilities and to their team. What’s important is to regularly pause and reflect about what you can STOP doing to allow for new ideas if they are really better.