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.




Questions for Continuous Improvement
Construction projects and business are full of unexpected outcomes - some good and some bad. How effectively teams investigate these largely determines the trajectory, sustainability, and profitability of their growth.
Integrating Constraints and Strategic Targets
Available talent, capital, and work in the market are the basic constraints every contractor must work within. Understanding and managing all three better each year is the foundation of sustainable growth.
Simple Math of Labor Savings
What would it be worth for your company to improve your field productivity? There is an incredible amount of low-hanging fruit to be picked when it comes to improving labor productivity.