Failure Is A By-Product Of Innovation

C. Engdahl
The Big E of Big E Toys

To fail, or not to fail, that isn't the question.

Unless you're a prize fighter taking a fall, a conniving subversive looking to sabotage a colleague, a pathological defeatist looking to avoid real effort, or simply a parent willing to take an intentional dive against a child in a game of checkers, no one typically begins an endeavor with the thought of failing willfully.

To fail, or not to fail, that isn't the question. Innovators don't intentionally fail. The question rather is 'what do you do after you fail'?

Almost two years ago in a post about the Apollo 13 mission entitled 'Successful Failure Is An Option' one of the things I suggested is that 'whether we learn from our failures is important.' This basic premise is echoed in a short film from Honda's Dream The Impossible documentary series called 'Failure: The Secret To Success.' Take a look.

'Failure is a by-product of pushing the envelope. When you fail it's not necessarily looked at as a bad thing, as long as you learn from it and make something positive out of it.'
John Kessler
Engineer, Honda Performance Development

What do you do after you fail? Hopefully the answer is "learn something."
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C. Engdahl is the founder of Big E Toys and creator of several successful specialty boardgames. He is also the principle of Big E Insights, a consultancy that helps organizations make sense of consumer and competitive landscapes.