Think how much easier it is to shut down an experiment than a new initiative. They unlock the back door in case they or their idea have to make a quick exit. Serial innovators make their plans with a clear exit strategy in mind. And not looking like a failure is important if you want to live to innovate another day – it’s the key to marshalling the troops or gaining the funding you’ll need for your next great idea. But serial innovators know how to fail without looking like a failure. They know when to bail out and how to bail out of an idea, program or vision so that they don’t get stuck with the label of failure. Successful serial-innovators seem to know this. It’s filled with plans for better mouse traps that nobody wanted. But just as many great ideas never get off the ground. Sure a lot of ideas fail because they are goofy, poorly thought out or poorly executed. They know innovations’ dirty little secret: Most innovations fail. How do they do it? What’s the difference?įor one thing, serial innovators all seem to understand (either consciously or sub-consciously) that new ideas don’t succeed on merit alone. They don’t just have lots of great ideas. Serial innovators, on the other hand, seem to have an easier time getting traction for their vision of the future. My point is that there are many single-shot innovators who have a great idea that rockets them to fame and success followed by lots of other great ideas that never seem to get any traction. I subtitle this particular talk Confessions of a Serial-Innovator™ which, I know, sounds a bit self- aggrandizing. This time was no exception even though I was fighting a seriously wicked head cold (which must have produced some pretty gross sounds on the recording as I coughed and hacked my way through the material). It’s one of those talks that always gets a strong response. Yesterday I gave a talk on Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret at a conference in Phoenix.
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