Trends expert and innovation keynote speaker Jeremy Gutsche sees great value in intentional failure and destruction in the business world. While many companies today prefer to play it safe and stay within their comfort zones, Gutsche suggests that success is rooted in experimental failure.
His award-winning book 'Exploiting Chaos' -- which is available for FREE here -- provides concrete examples illustrating the benefits experimental failure has created for different products, individuals and companies. The following industries have experienced paramount success because of failure:
"Technology: During the tech boom, Cisco was the largest company in the world. In its early days, the company was rejected by an astonishing 76 venture capital firms before receiving funding.
Sports: Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time, but he was cut from his high school basketball team.
Fiction: John Grisham is one of the most successful novelists of all time. He was rejected by a couple dozen publishers before getting his first big deal. He actually sold copies of his first book, A Time to Kill, out of the trunk of his car."
Failing provides the opportunity for a brand to truly understand what it can and cannot do. Failure is an important part of the learning process. Successful ideas require excessive testing and open-minded and experimental failure.
A Decent Proportion of Your Creations Must Fail
Trends Expert Jeremy Gutsche on Expected Failure
Trend Themes
1. Experimental Failure - Embracing intentional failure and destruction as a means to achieve success.
2. Learning From Failure - Recognizing failure as an important part of the learning process for businesses and individuals.
3. Excessive Testing - The need for extensive testing and open-mindedness in order to develop successful ideas.
Industry Implications
1. Technology - Identifying potential disruptive innovations in the technology industry by embracing failure as a learning opportunity.
2. Sports - Recognizing the value of failure in sports, allowing athletes to learn and grow from their experiences.
3. Fiction - Encouraging aspiring authors to embrace rejection and failure as stepping stones on the path to success.