We’ve all heard it before, “I wouldn’t do it that way or you’ll get your butt kicked”. It’s hard to do something – like start a business, or launch a product on the first run and win, right? Even if you learned how from a winner. Lets face it we live in a culture that admires and encourages success.
I think (form a business standpoint) that you can learn more from someone who has failed than from another who succeeded. In fact there is a book out called the Wisdom of Failure, by Laurence G. Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey I have not had a chance to read the book, but from a quick review it really gets into this topic. There was also an article in the Business Insider that points to this concept of learning more from failure than success.
The article points to a couple of key points, which I like. First one is to know when to quit and the second is to say no to a quick buck. The article goes onto define that you don’t need to emulate another company when setting up yours.
So the next time you hear someone say, boy I lost my ass on that project, listen, you just might learn something.