Science has been built on the principle of trial and error: the more mistakes you make, the closer you get to getting it right. Why not apply the same to the business world?
Thomas Alva Edison was not only a great scientist, but also a successful entrepreneur who registered more than 1,000 patents in his lifetime. Many of his inventions only reached glory after a long road of disasters. Before his lightbulb illuminated mankind, the record of disappointment was such that the press of the time laughed at it. When asked about it, the genius replied, “I have not failed. I have found 10,000 solutions that do not work”.
In the same way, history is full of successful people who were thrown out of school when they were children, who lost resoundingly in all the competitions to which they appeared, who suffered rejection of their works or ideas on many occasions … without however giving up.
Failure in a business venture isa requirement for success, as long as you know how to manage it properly. For this, it is essential to promote a corporate policy where losing coexists with winning.
How to capitalize on your mistakes?
Admit your own failure:
Mistakes must be assumed, never covered up or transferred responsibility to others. However, you also have to share them, because that generates empathy, tells others that they too can fail and shows that we can all be resilient and float after the shipwreck. Not only that, talking openly about your own failure can lead others to find the solution that we have not found.
Show tolerance for the failure of others:
This shows that we lead a team without fear of failure, willing to take risks wisely. This is the only way to open the door to innovation, because people feel free to experiment with new solutions.
Curb competitiveness among team members:
In a corporation, everyone must be close and equal, without a trace of competitiveness among its components, but only towards the foreign market. In this way, creativity, pride of belonging, well-being and, therefore, productivity are also promoted.
Take care of emotions:
Nobody likes to fail. It involves a significant loss of self-esteem, but when one has learned to manage their emotions, they know that failure gives them a wisdom that they cannot obtain otherwise, that it helps them to show their resilience, that it gives them the opportunity to become stronger, that sparks motivation.
Analyze the failure:
To take advantage of the benefits that failure gives us, we must analyze it: knowing if it has been due to carelessness, a lack of planning, collaboration deficiencies … The same with success: dissecting its causes allows us to learn.
