At think2make we’re talking a lot about failure right now. Not because we’re particularly fond of the game or because we’re particularly good at it. But because Sedat Adiyaman, CEO of the company has published a book with François Courvoisier entitled, Celebrating Failure. Finally, all these discussions about chess made us think and that’s what we want to talk about today.
To fail or not to fail?
It’s all a matter of perspective. Yes, there are failures that are indeed a failure, no doubt. But there are also failures that despite their status of failure are not really failures. Take one of your first failures for example, the first time you decided to pull yourself up on your little legs, you most likely failed to walk – in that sense it was a resounding failure. Except that by falling you learned, and after many failures you eventually succeeded.
Take also the story of think2make. Before being the company it is today, Sedat tried to sell idea boxes. Have you ever used an idea box? Probably not.
What to do with your failures?
Some of your failures will be undeniable failures, and version 2.0 of your project will probably not be possible. Your version 2.0 is still possible (or rather version 47.6 depending on how many times you have learned from your mistakes). In any case, we will not teach you anything by encouraging you to learn from your mistakes.
Dare to talk about it
In Switzerland, we don’t necessarily have a culture of failure. Few people congratulate themselves for having failed, or communicate widely on this point. You can always find the nearest anonymous failures. Or simply talk about it, on your social networks, to your colleagues, friends, family, in blogs, even in newspapers! It’s time to democratize chess as part of the process, and it starts with you.
We can’t promise you’ll never experience failure again, but we can promise you to better manage your ideation and innovation processes.