Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Monday, October 22, 2012
Putting Failure in its Place - HBR Post
Whitney Johnson has published a short and engaging piece on managing failure on the HBR blog.
Put Failure in its Place - by Whitney Johnson
Friday, October 12, 2012
Shades of Failure
We've all been conditioned to see the world in unequivocal terms. The sky is blue, trees are green, roses are red… I was not surprised to find that a majority of people associate failure with the color - think about it for a moment - yes, black. Success is most often associated with the color white. We wear black to attend funerals. Brides wear white dresses to their wedding. But are things really that simple? No. Consider that in many cultures the dead are dressed in white. And grooms often wear a black tuxedo to their wedding. Bridal gowns are not always white. And not everyone dons a black suit to a funeral.
Black and white are extremes. Just like the sky isn't blue, there is an infinite spectrum of shades and colors between black and white.
So what color do you most associate with failure now? Is there really such a thing as complete and utter failure, a failure so grave that we could only color it in solid black?
Tell me, I'd love to hear from you.
*My daughter is now 16...this was written back in 1999 while I was still at Stanford.
Monday, October 8, 2012
A Compendium of Quotes on Failure
Dec 9, 2012
"He that is overcautious will accomplish little."
Friedrich von Schiller, Poet, Philosopher, Historian and Playwright
As quoted in The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
Dec 8, 2012
"For this is the tragedy of man-circumstances change, but he doesn't."
Machiavelli, Historian, Politician, Diplomat, Philosopher, Humanist and Writer
As quoted in The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
Dec 2, 2012
"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."
Bill Cosby, Comedian
Dec 1, 2012
Referring to every well-educated person, Charles Kettering, one of America's greatest inventors and innovators of all time, said, "...it is not a disgrace to fail, and that he must analyze each failure to find its cause...must learn how to fail intelligently. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails towards success."
Charles Kettering, Inventor
Quoted in Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
Nov 12, 2012
"Being successful is kind of dull."
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari
Quoted in Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
Nolan Bushnell
Nov 11, 2012
Tom Crouch writing about the Wright Brothers...
"They were as excited about failure as they were by success."
(from The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright
)
The Wright Brothers
Tom Crouch
Nov 10, 2012
"One must be God to be able to distinguish successes from failures and not make mistakes."
Anton Chekov
Nov 9, 2012
"Good men are still liable to make mistakes, and are sometimes warmly engaged in errors, which they take for divine truths, shining in their minds with the clearest light."
John Locke
Oct 29, 2012
"If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in an era of unprecedented volatility and ambiguity."
Tom Peters Oct 17, 2012
"Failure in Innovation - it's a price worth paying."
Tim Harford (from: Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011)
Oct 15, 2012
Man has been writing of failure since biblical times. Here we go back to the time of Aristotle, to a controversial quote that I do not believe does justice to reality:
"It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way."
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, II, 6
Oct 14, 2012
"I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."
John Keats, one of the greatest and most important poets in the history of mankind - born in 1795, he died so so young, only 26. One hesitates to think what Keats would have accomplished in a full lifetime...the following are ruminations from a letter written to one James Hessey on October 8, 1818:
"The Genius of Poetry must work out its own salvation in a man: It cannot be matured by law & precept, but by sensation ad watchfulness in itself - That which is creative must create itself - In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, & the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea & comfortable advice. I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."
John Keats
Oct 13, 2012
Mark Zbaracki, at the time a professor at NYU, wrote a nice little piece titled "Success, Failure and the Race of Truth" for the Journal of Management Inquiry back in September of 2006. Thought I'd pull a nice quote from there:
"...those moments when life sends us sliding along the pavement or tumbling over the handlebars are gifts, opportunities for clarity..."
Mark J. Zbaracki
Oct 12, 2012
Here's John Adams writing on failure in 1755 (!):
(I received this newest volume from the Library of America today - the man was only twenty years old when he inferred and wrote the following and much more. Incredible. The strange spelling, capitalizations etc. as in the original text)
"If we look into History we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings, and spreading their influence, 'till the whole Globe is subjected to their sway. When they have reach'd the summit of Grandeur, some minute and unsuspected Cause commonly affects their Ruin, and the Empire of the world is transferr'd to some other place. Immortal Rome was at first but an insignificant Village, inhabited only be a few abandoned Ruffins, but by degrees it rose to a stupendous Height, and excell'd in Arts and Arms all the nations that praeceeded it. But the demolition of Carthage (what one should think would have establish'd it in supream dominion) by removing all danger, suffer'd to sink into debauchery, and made it att length an easy prey to Barbarians."
John Adams, Revolutionary Writings, 1755-1775
"There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life."
T H Huxley, On Medical Education (1870)
Oct 10, 2012
"83 percent of Chief Executive Officers fail."
Lucy Kellaway, writing for the Financial Times Oct 9, 2012
"Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching I've learned from making mistakes."
Rick Pitino, NBA Coach
Oct 8, 2012 - Today I've decided to start up a compendium of my favorite quotes on failure - I'll be making a valiant attempt to post one-a-day (A quote a day keeps the failure away?? :-)
Here's the first one for you all - from the creator of Peter Pan no less:
"We are all failures - at least, all the best of us are."
J. M. Barrie
Just came across this on Gotham so here's another one for today:
“Ever tried.
Ever failed.
No matter.
Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better."
Samuel Beckett
"He that is overcautious will accomplish little."
Friedrich von Schiller, Poet, Philosopher, Historian and Playwright
As quoted in The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
Dec 8, 2012
"For this is the tragedy of man-circumstances change, but he doesn't."
Machiavelli, Historian, Politician, Diplomat, Philosopher, Humanist and Writer
As quoted in The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
Dec 2, 2012
"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."
Bill Cosby, Comedian
Dec 1, 2012
Referring to every well-educated person, Charles Kettering, one of America's greatest inventors and innovators of all time, said, "...it is not a disgrace to fail, and that he must analyze each failure to find its cause...must learn how to fail intelligently. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails towards success."
Charles Kettering, Inventor
Quoted in Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
Nov 12, 2012
"Being successful is kind of dull."
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari
Quoted in Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
Nolan Bushnell
Nov 11, 2012
Tom Crouch writing about the Wright Brothers...
"They were as excited about failure as they were by success."
(from The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright
)The Wright Brothers
Tom Crouch
Nov 10, 2012
"One must be God to be able to distinguish successes from failures and not make mistakes."
Anton Chekov
Nov 9, 2012
"Good men are still liable to make mistakes, and are sometimes warmly engaged in errors, which they take for divine truths, shining in their minds with the clearest light."
John Locke
Oct 29, 2012
"If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in an era of unprecedented volatility and ambiguity."
Tom Peters Oct 17, 2012
"Failure in Innovation - it's a price worth paying."
Tim Harford (from: Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011)
Oct 15, 2012
Man has been writing of failure since biblical times. Here we go back to the time of Aristotle, to a controversial quote that I do not believe does justice to reality:
"It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way."
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, II, 6
Oct 14, 2012
"I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."
John Keats, one of the greatest and most important poets in the history of mankind - born in 1795, he died so so young, only 26. One hesitates to think what Keats would have accomplished in a full lifetime...the following are ruminations from a letter written to one James Hessey on October 8, 1818:
"The Genius of Poetry must work out its own salvation in a man: It cannot be matured by law & precept, but by sensation ad watchfulness in itself - That which is creative must create itself - In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, & the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea & comfortable advice. I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."
John Keats
Oct 13, 2012
Mark Zbaracki, at the time a professor at NYU, wrote a nice little piece titled "Success, Failure and the Race of Truth" for the Journal of Management Inquiry back in September of 2006. Thought I'd pull a nice quote from there:
"...those moments when life sends us sliding along the pavement or tumbling over the handlebars are gifts, opportunities for clarity..."
Mark J. Zbaracki
Oct 12, 2012
Here's John Adams writing on failure in 1755 (!):
(I received this newest volume from the Library of America today - the man was only twenty years old when he inferred and wrote the following and much more. Incredible. The strange spelling, capitalizations etc. as in the original text)
"If we look into History we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings, and spreading their influence, 'till the whole Globe is subjected to their sway. When they have reach'd the summit of Grandeur, some minute and unsuspected Cause commonly affects their Ruin, and the Empire of the world is transferr'd to some other place. Immortal Rome was at first but an insignificant Village, inhabited only be a few abandoned Ruffins, but by degrees it rose to a stupendous Height, and excell'd in Arts and Arms all the nations that praeceeded it. But the demolition of Carthage (what one should think would have establish'd it in supream dominion) by removing all danger, suffer'd to sink into debauchery, and made it att length an easy prey to Barbarians."
John Adams, Revolutionary Writings, 1755-1775
"There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life."
T H Huxley, On Medical Education (1870)
Oct 10, 2012
"83 percent of Chief Executive Officers fail."
Lucy Kellaway, writing for the Financial Times Oct 9, 2012
"Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching I've learned from making mistakes."
Rick Pitino, NBA Coach
Oct 8, 2012 - Today I've decided to start up a compendium of my favorite quotes on failure - I'll be making a valiant attempt to post one-a-day (A quote a day keeps the failure away?? :-)
Here's the first one for you all - from the creator of Peter Pan no less:
"We are all failures - at least, all the best of us are."
J. M. Barrie
Just came across this on Gotham so here's another one for today:
“Ever tried.
Ever failed.
No matter.
Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better."
Samuel Beckett
Monday, October 1, 2012
Top Ten Reasons "Green" Entrepreneurs Fail
Startup Pro, an award winning blog run by Martin Zwilling, has published an interesting list of the top ten reasons first time entrepreneurs fail. I don't necessarily agree with everything Zwilling writes, but it's definitely a lot of food for thought!
The Power of Failure
Charles C. Manz is a professor at U Mass who focuses on the study of leadership. In 2002 Profesor Manz published a nice little book on The Power of Failure: 27 Ways to Turn Life's Setbacks Into Success
- while the book is more of a motivational treatise and not an academic, research-based analysis of the subject, Manz emphasizes a lot of important and valuable lessons, as one would expect from a tenured U Mass prof.
Old world, old economy failure used to be all about not performing, falling short, being inept, forgetting, neglecting - "A bad, bad thing that should be avoided, mourned and punished."
How refreshing that failure in the new economy has come to mean something altogether different! Today failure is seen as "a stepping stone to success, an opportunity for learning and development, an opportunity for creative change and innovation."
Go forth and fail as in failure you will find the seedlings of your next successful venture!
- while the book is more of a motivational treatise and not an academic, research-based analysis of the subject, Manz emphasizes a lot of important and valuable lessons, as one would expect from a tenured U Mass prof.
Old world, old economy failure used to be all about not performing, falling short, being inept, forgetting, neglecting - "A bad, bad thing that should be avoided, mourned and punished."
How refreshing that failure in the new economy has come to mean something altogether different! Today failure is seen as "a stepping stone to success, an opportunity for learning and development, an opportunity for creative change and innovation."
Go forth and fail as in failure you will find the seedlings of your next successful venture!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Why big companies fail to innovate...
This goes straight to an old argument my father and I always get into. He comes from a VERY BIG company backgroud (Emerson Electric, Norden, Rafael), and I'm an entrpreneur who has worked mostly with small, nimble, innovative companies. The argument - in case you're wondering - is about why large companies almost never come up with the really big innovations.
A nice new blog series from HBR, Why Big Companies Can't Innovate, provides some good rationale in my support.
A nice new blog series from HBR, Why Big Companies Can't Innovate, provides some good rationale in my support.
How frequent is bank failure?
Marketwatch reported on September 28th 2012 that First United Bank is the 43rd bank to fail in the US this year!!!
First United Bank is 43rd 2012 U.S. bank failure
However, if that sounds like a lot, turns out that on average 70 banks fail in the US annually... Problem Bank List does us all a favor and track all bank failure news.
One can pull practically any and all bank failure data from the FDIC database, as an example see this table displaying all US bank failures from 1990 to date.
The FDIC maintains and regularly updates a failed bank list
The St. Louis Fed issued an interesting report on bank failures, analyzing bank failures between 2007 and 2010 but providing extensive graphical analysis of bank failures more or less from the beginning of the 20th century to date. The report is titled The Geographic Distribution and Characteristics of US Bank Failure (download).
BigThink ran a nice piece on Why Banks Fail—And Why They Fail on Friday back in 2010.
First United Bank is 43rd 2012 U.S. bank failure
However, if that sounds like a lot, turns out that on average 70 banks fail in the US annually... Problem Bank List does us all a favor and track all bank failure news.
One can pull practically any and all bank failure data from the FDIC database, as an example see this table displaying all US bank failures from 1990 to date.
The FDIC maintains and regularly updates a failed bank list
The St. Louis Fed issued an interesting report on bank failures, analyzing bank failures between 2007 and 2010 but providing extensive graphical analysis of bank failures more or less from the beginning of the 20th century to date. The report is titled The Geographic Distribution and Characteristics of US Bank Failure (download).
BigThink ran a nice piece on Why Banks Fail—And Why They Fail on Friday back in 2010.
The Failure of Government Programs
If there is one entity that fails to learn consistently, it's government.
The crux of national policy for most if not all western governments over the past century has been to improve equality among their citizens (aka "voter base...").
Yet almost without fail... (pun intended...) - the result has been the exact opposite.
Paul Ormerod, in his terrific analysis of failure across all segments of government and industry, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
, provides some telling statistics on the progress - or lack thereof - of government policies worldwide:
The role of the government and direct involvement in the economy has grown considerably in every western country from 1950 to 2000
In 2000, Subsidies for the poor, welfare, tax breaks etc accounted for almost 20% of EU countries' national income
Even in the uber-capitalistic US of A approximately 10% were spent on such items
Overall, in the EU gov't spending accounted for as much as 48% of national income - 36% in the US
Yet equality in western nations is on the decline!
In other words, billions and trillions of dollars are being spent on programs that are failing.
Does it look like western governments are drawing the necessary conclusions from such failures? Are they LEARNING? Not that anyone can tell, as widely accepted economic equality indices such as the Gini coefficient continue to increase.
The crux of national policy for most if not all western governments over the past century has been to improve equality among their citizens (aka "voter base...").
Yet almost without fail... (pun intended...) - the result has been the exact opposite.
Paul Ormerod, in his terrific analysis of failure across all segments of government and industry, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
, provides some telling statistics on the progress - or lack thereof - of government policies worldwide:
Yet equality in western nations is on the decline!
In other words, billions and trillions of dollars are being spent on programs that are failing.
Does it look like western governments are drawing the necessary conclusions from such failures? Are they LEARNING? Not that anyone can tell, as widely accepted economic equality indices such as the Gini coefficient continue to increase.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Why Start-ups Fail
Back in mid-2000, as the first dot.com bubble was imploding, Philip J. Kaplan wrote a wonderful little book called F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot-com Flameouts
(highly recommended, and not just for the educational content, it's an amusing read!!)
In his introduction Kaplan delineates, sarcastically - as he does so well...a paragraph full of reasons why companies fail:
"Why'd They Fail?" too early...
too late...
too expensive...
too cheap...
too big...
too much competition...
to much supply...
not enough demand...
management...
I love Kaplan's description of management...pick up the book to find out more.
In the next few posts we'll be going more in depth into each of the reasons above. Would love to hear more from you.
Although fuckedcompany.com is history (why??), you can still follow Philip J. Kaplan masquerading as @pud on twitter.
(highly recommended, and not just for the educational content, it's an amusing read!!)
In his introduction Kaplan delineates, sarcastically - as he does so well...a paragraph full of reasons why companies fail:
"Why'd They Fail?"
I love Kaplan's description of management...pick up the book to find out more.
In the next few posts we'll be going more in depth into each of the reasons above. Would love to hear more from you.
Although fuckedcompany.com is history (why??), you can still follow Philip J. Kaplan masquerading as @pud on twitter.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
WSJ Reports on the top 50 startups - let's start tracking!!
WSJ has published its annual list of the top 50 start-ups, I believe for the third year running. Titled Looking for the 'Next Big Thing'? Ranking the Top 50 Start-Ups, the annual list is gaining quite a following, and is proving to be a good predictor of future success. Ten of last year's "top 50" have already managed impressive exits, six through IPO and four through acquisitions.
"Steiner on Failure" will be following the 2012 list to see how well this year's team fares, how many of these companies fail over time - and what we will be able to learn from their failures.
"Steiner on Failure" will be following the 2012 list to see how well this year's team fares, how many of these companies fail over time - and what we will be able to learn from their failures.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Israel - Extremely Low Startup Failure Rate Reported
As many of you know, the start-up scene in Israel is especially vibrant - for example, although it is one of the smaller countries worldwide, Israel is #3 on the NASDAQ after the US and China...
It should therefore come as no surprise that the failure rate for start-ups in Israel is extremely low. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics released data on 2,047 companies operating in the realm of research and development between 2003 and 2008. The data set included companies in the following market spaces: semi-conductors, biotech, medical devices, communications, clean tech and electronic components.
Of the 2,047 companies analyzed, 1,746 (85%) were categorized as start-ups; of these fully 1,222 started up during the term examined. Five years later, 488 of 547 companies that had ceased to exist were startups. Of the 1,222 companies started up from 2003 to 2008, only 35% had failed!
As a comparison:
In Britain 33% of new businesses fail during the first three years.
In the US fully 55% of new businesses are out of business by the end of their fifth year of life
For more on the success of the Israeli start-up community I highly recommed Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
It should therefore come as no surprise that the failure rate for start-ups in Israel is extremely low. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics released data on 2,047 companies operating in the realm of research and development between 2003 and 2008. The data set included companies in the following market spaces: semi-conductors, biotech, medical devices, communications, clean tech and electronic components.
Of the 2,047 companies analyzed, 1,746 (85%) were categorized as start-ups; of these fully 1,222 started up during the term examined. Five years later, 488 of 547 companies that had ceased to exist were startups. Of the 1,222 companies started up from 2003 to 2008, only 35% had failed!
As a comparison:
For more on the success of the Israeli start-up community I highly recommed Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
The secrets of my failure: Why ‘winning’ is not our natural state
Adam Fletcher penned a nice piece on failure for Venture Village, syndicated by VentureBeat - it's titled The Secrets of my Failure.
btw on the subject of failure in scientific research - less than 5% published - that means more than 95% fails, right? Wrong - because much of the 5% published is manipulated.
A couple of good books on the subject of error (aka failure) in scientific research and elsewhere are Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, ... consultants, health officials and more
by David H. Freedman or Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error
by Kathryn Schulz.
btw on the subject of failure in scientific research - less than 5% published - that means more than 95% fails, right? Wrong - because much of the 5% published is manipulated.
A couple of good books on the subject of error (aka failure) in scientific research and elsewhere are Wrong: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them *Scientists, finance wizards, doctors, relationship gurus, celebrity CEOs, ... consultants, health officials and more
by David H. Freedman or Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Seen a good movie lately...?
I'm sure that just like me - you've all sat through movies and could not believe some producer(s) read that script and actually put real money to have that movie made...
Here are some thoughts from Paul Ormerod, brilliant British economist, on why movies flop:
Why do films flop?
Here are some thoughts from Paul Ormerod, brilliant British economist, on why movies flop:
Why do films flop?
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Stat to Ponder - Percent of US Businesses Failing Every Year
Unbelievable - fully 10% of US businesses fail annually. Wow.
WSJ Publishes Old News on VC-backed Startup Failures
WSJ published some old news today...according to Deborah Gage, the VC (Venture Capital) secret is that 3 out of 4 startups fail...
News flash: 1 out of 10 succeeds...
Rough VC stats are as follows - for each 1,000 business plans a typical VC sees:
=> VC communicates with 100 teams
...meets with 10 teams for presentations
...invests in ONE single venture
Success stats are approximately:
+ 5-6 fail ... negative returns
+ 2-3 breakeven - living dead etc. ... zero returns
+ 1-2 minor success ... minor returns, in today's climate barely return VC investments
+ 1 raging success ... major returns, finances the whole deal
DO THE MATH - for a single raging success a VC team has to review approximately 10,000 business plans, sit through 100 presentations, invest in ten companies and work with them for periods that can stretch out to ten years and beyond.
It ain't an easy business - even if top firms like Kleiner Perkins and Accel sometimes make it seem like cake.
News flash: 1 out of 10 succeeds...
Rough VC stats are as follows - for each 1,000 business plans a typical VC sees:
=> VC communicates with 100 teams
...meets with 10 teams for presentations
...invests in ONE single venture
Success stats are approximately:
+ 5-6 fail ... negative returns
+ 2-3 breakeven - living dead etc. ... zero returns
+ 1-2 minor success ... minor returns, in today's climate barely return VC investments
+ 1 raging success ... major returns, finances the whole deal
DO THE MATH - for a single raging success a VC team has to review approximately 10,000 business plans, sit through 100 presentations, invest in ten companies and work with them for periods that can stretch out to ten years and beyond.
It ain't an easy business - even if top firms like Kleiner Perkins and Accel sometimes make it seem like cake.
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