 |
|
The source of the best business, financial and legal news |
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 | |
| |
 |
Business Informations |
|
|
|
Reinventing Failure: Designing Success
I am fascinated by problems. I like to think of myself as a solution oriented individual. However when problems creep into my life as they always do I know that I am in for a major learning experience. I just finished reading a book this week that belongs on the bookshelf of every entrepreneur. It is called "Juice, The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz." This book allows you to take a peek inside the labs of the brightest minds and better understand how they relentlessly question and discover the infinite number of ways that we can imagine and create solutions. The book is an awesome expose on how world class inventors on the planet search for problems, seek to understand them and develop solutions that can only come about by perceiving the problem in a different manner. Every entrepreneur should read this book! It is chock full of wisdom that we can apply to our business lives. Albert Einstein once commented that the most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile. He hypothesized that your answer to that question would determine your destiny. I feel that most people have decided that the universe is hostile. In so doing their immediate response to any problem only compounds the hostility. However, the great minds always teach us that regardless of the problem there is a major lesson to be understood if we only learn to look for it. The history of the world is literally the history of transformative breakthroughs. In the book ""Juice, The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz" the author clearly demonstrates that the one factor that separates world class inventors from wannabes is that they celebrate the feedback they receive from FAILURE. The most innovative minds recognize that within every failure lies the true and genuine information that is required to learn how to better understand the problem and overcome the obstacles that it presents. They are fascinated by the feedback they receive and are consistently focused on experimenting further because of the feedback that will provide. A powerful lesson for all of us! Failure is feedback and within that feedback is the wisdom of incredible success. Or as Dr. Wayne Dyer as stated, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Take for example the story of Dean Kamen the inventor of the Segway, the two wheeled personal electronic vehicle that is revolutionizing transportation in our major cities. One day in 1990, Kamen witnessed a wheelchair bound man trying to navigate a curb en route to a shopping center. He followed the man into an ice cream store and was astonished at how the man struggled to reach for the counter and grab his ice cream cone. Within that experience Kamen was both outraged and inspired. The seeds of the Segway were born. Two years later after numerous disappointments Kamen slipped on a wet bathroom floor and realized that the real problem he was confronting in his technology was one of balance. He and his team of engineers honed in on the enabling technology of electronic gyroscopes that could provide "automatic balance." It was only after years and years of failure and celebrating the feedback he received that they could focus on the successful introduction of the Segway prototype. Today, according to Kamen the Segway is the answer to the urban transportation problem. 43% of the world's gas is used by cars and almost 20% of individuals' disposable income goes to car payments and gasoline. The market for the Segway is several billion people! A fascinating creation brought about by someone who simply disagreed with limitations imposed by the status quo. What is your greatest problem in life right now? What is the greatest problem in your business? The late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was fond of saying that, "When God wants to send you a gift he wraps it up in a problem and the bigger the gift that God sends you the bigger the problem." If the Segway can be born by witnessing a wheelchair bound man in pursuit of an ice cream cone what are the possibilities that can occur in your life if you learn to seek the lesson in your problems? An Nathan Myrhrvold, the former Chief Technologist at Microsoft Corporation has prophesied "There's never been a better time to have big ideas." Eureka! When you reinvent failure you design your own success. Be Careful What You Agree With! Harald Anderson is the co-founder of Artinspires.com a leading online gallery of Motivational Posters and Inspirational Posters."When Art Inspires, Dreams Become Realities. His goal in life is to become the kind of person that his dog already thinks he is. http://www.artinspires.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
leadership - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Character -- Why It Matters In Leaders "Character is much easier kept than recovered." -Thomas Paine"The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back. Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 4, Quiet Participants There are many reasons why someone would decline to participate during a meeting. For example, the person may feel reluctant to speak out, may disagree with the approach endorsed by others in the meeting, or may just be tired. Exceptional Leadership Inspires the Best Effort in Others There is a steady stream being written and taught about leadership these days. There are tips about leadership, courses about leadership, books, retreats, and continuing education - all focused on leadership. Get What You Want - Negotiating Skills for the Timid! OK, I know this title sounds self-serving and hard nosed, but the article isn't! Whether it's buying a car, asking for a pay rise, saying 'no' to a friend or renting an apartment - at some stage in our lives we all are going to need to know how to negotiate. Yet, so few of us know the basic skills before embarking on life changing purchases or decisions!This article is written for those TIMID folk who want to feel more confident in the basic skills of negotiating. Recommended Books on Leadership and Team Building The single most important thing a leader can do is lead by example, and if you want your team to be dynamic and learn more, you've got to continually innovate and find new ways to encourage, reward, and motivate YOURSELF! That's right, I said you've got to motivate YOU! If you lead by example, and you're motivated, soon your team will be too!That being said, here are my recommendations for a few good leadership and team building books. Enjoy!The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow them and People Will Follow You Failing Forward John C. Why You Should Ignore This Advice Doesn't make too much sense does it? Am I really going to give you some advice that asks you to ignore the advice I'm giving you? Well, that's not strictly true. I am however going to show you how to qualify the advice you are given, so you can sort the wheat from the chaff, and help you to survive the information overload on the Internet. Top Skills Of Extraordinary Leaders 1. Good Communicator. 3 Elements of Leadership Power! In an article discussing the need for innovative products and profitable service offerings, Vinutha V., points out that, "improvements are only the expected results, not the source of competitive advantage. 7 Core Elements Of Your Vivid Vision! What you are about to read may be found in the Bible but it also applies to your professional life.Most leaders neglect to provide a statement of vision to the people they lead and when a vision is presented it usually lacks any vitality or inspirational value. Leadership and Change in a Holographic Universe Have you ever noticed that since the early part of the 20th century, nearly every new scientific theory manages to sound more and more like the same sort of metaphysical philosophies science once dismissed? Well, it's happening again and this time our views on the structure of the universe, the power of human consciousness and even the nature of reality itself are being challenged by a startling new finding: that many hard to explain events and scientific puzzles become suddenly clear and easily understood if we consider that everything we see and experience around us is not in fact a physical reality, but rather our own interpretation of an infinitely large, dynamic and multidimensional hologram, constructed by and interpreted through our own consciousness.Most people are familiar with the concept of a graphic hologram - an image imprinted on a special film that, when illuminated with a certain type of laser, projects a 3-dimensional picture that you can view from any angle. Ten Ways Women Can Visualize Themselves As Leaders Women should not be afraid of or feel guilty about taking a leadership role--in their organization, in their community, in their own lives. What could you accomplish if you were leading your life instead of simply living your life?1. Leadership and Followership in a Team Setting Many solopreneurs work in a team environment either with their client's staff, or with subcontractors. Having spent over 20 years in a teaming environment before becoming a solopreneur 13 years ago, I know that during the course of any highly functioning team effort, the leadership and followership roles flow back and forth between the members. People or Objects? - - You Decide "How you think determines how you act. How you act, in turn, determines how others react to you. Leadership Is Power: Test Your Ethics "The payoff for the ethical person is a reputation for honesty. It's a payoff that makes every undertaking easier and attracts unsolicited opportunities. Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 5, Dominant Participants While dominant participants contribute significantly to the success of a meeting, they can also overwhelm, intimidate, and exclude others. Thus, you want to control their energy without losing their support. Leadership Skills and Ability What is true Leadership.Is leadership something we are born with or is it learned. The Personality of Leadership Have you ever wondered what type of person or personality makes the best leader? Most would consider the answer to that question to be the person that has the greatest success, the largest organization, or the best staff. Conversely, have you ever wondered how it is that a person with little drive or entrepreneurial skills ends up in a leadership position? You know the type person I am writing about, a person that couldn't lead a dog on a walk, but has been given the responsibility of leading a large and well-established organization. Make the Most of Your Mentoring Relationships Mentoring is one of the best ways to learn, to get feedback, and to take your career to the next level. Here are ten tips for making the most of your mentoring relationships. Shades of Grey: Government, Religion, & People Some think that everything is black and white. I'm beginning to see everything as different shades of grey. Leadership and The Dirty Work The airline, Jet Blue, has been featured in many magazines as a new company that has hard great results and success so far. A lot too has been mentioned about the challenges they face ahead and about the culture they created at the start and are working hard to foster now.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
Comment by Frank O'Donnell
