Mar 15, 2011
Don’t be a Tiger Mom CEO — Celebrate Failure
Posted by Naveen Jain in categories: business, economics, philosophy
How important is failure – yes, failure – to the health of a thriving, innovative business? So important that Ratan Tata, chairman of India’s largest corporation, gives an annual award to the employee who comes up with the best idea that failed. So important that Apple, the company gives us the world’s most beautifully designed music players, mobile phones, and tablets, wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t dared to fail. Remember the Apple Newton? Probably not, since it was a flop, but it was a precursor to today’s wildly successful iPad.
In a struggling economic climate, failure is what separates mediocre companies from businesses that break through and astound us with their creativity.
Yet failure has become a scenario to be avoided at all costs for most CEOs. Between fear of losing jobs to fear of rattling investors, business leaders are expected to deliver a perfect track record of product launches and expansion programs. They indirectly instill this attitude in their employees, who lack the confidence to spearhead any corporate initiative that isn’t guaranteed to work.
Call it the Tiger Mom effect: In the business world today, failure is apparently not an option.
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