Failure is it really failure?

A classic example of the role failure plays in innovation is reflected in the following words of Thomas Edison:

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work (Brainy Quote (n.d.)).

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up (Brainy Quote (n.d.)).

What we see at in Edison’s’ words is an understanding that new insights or gained from one’s failure, a mistake in some respects is a mini innovation that enables one to see and understanding the impact of forces within a defined or general environment. William Smithburg, former Quaker Oats chairman, stated in Warren Bennis’ and Burt Nanus’ book, Leaders, the following:

There isn’t one senior manager in this company who has hasn’t been associated with a product that flopped. That includes me. It is like learning to ski. If you’re not falling down, you’re not learning (p. 67).

After a merger with PepsiCo, Quaker Oats stands as part of the fourth-largest consumer-goods company in the world (Quaker Oats (n.d.)).

What the Edison and Smithburg quotes teach the interested observer is that with persistence and focus failure can be a wise teacher in the process of innovation.


References:

Bennis, W., and Nanus B. (1985). Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. New York: Harper and Row.

Brainy Quote (n.d.) Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_a_edison.html.

Quaker Oats (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_AboutUs/history.cfm