The Business Book

164

T U R N E V E R Y

DISASTER INTO

A N O P P O R T U N I T Y

LEARNING FROM FAILURE

T

here are many stories of

success built on failure:

the US inventor Thomas

Edison failed to register patents

for his ticker tape machine so felt

compelled to continue inventing,

eventually perfecting the

incandescent light bulb. British

inventor James Dyson produced

more than 5,000 prototypes before

he came up with a successful

bagless vacuum cleaner. Success

for entrepreneurs always involves

trial and error, and resilience. US

industrialist J. D. Rockefeller, the

world’s first dollar-billionaire, looked

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Management thinking

KEY DATES

c.560 BCE Chinese philosopher

Lao Tzu says that failure is the

foundation of success and the

means by which it is achieved.

1960s Soichiro Honda, founder

of the Honda Motor Company,

says that “success can only be

achieved through repeated

failure and introspection.”

1983 Apple Computer Inc.

releases the Lisa computer.

It is a commercial failure,

but plays a vital role in the

development of the Apple Mac.

1992 US management

professor Sim Sitkin introduces

the idea of “intelligent failure”

in Learning Through Failure:

The Strategy of Small Losses.

The company implements

these better methods

and approaches in

new projects.

The experience gained

provides useful feedback,

whether the activity

succeeded or not.

When a company performs an activity,

it gains experience.

The company must analyze the feedback

to find out what could be done

differently and better.

Every disaster is an opportunity for learning.