How Upward-Moving Organizations Learn & Grow, 1. Before now, mistakes used to be taboos. Why suddenly are so many successful business leaders urging their companies and colleagues to make more mistakes and embrace more failures? This sounds ironic, isn’t it?
In May 2017, after becoming CEO of Coca-Cola Co, James Quincey called upon rank-and-file managers to GET BEYOND THE FEAR OF FAILURE THAT HAD DOGGED THE COMPANY since the “New Coke” fiasco of so many years ago. Please corporate giant Coca-Cola has been talked about. “If we’re not making mistakes, we’re not trying hard enough”, Quincey insisted. Wow.
Just a month after, in June, even amid unparalleled success with subscribers, Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings worried about his fabulously valuable streaming service. He told a technology conference, ” WE HAVE TO TAKE MORE RISK… TO TRY MORE CRAZY THINGS… WE SHOULD HAVE A HIGHER CANCEL RATE OVERALL “.
What of Jeffrey Bezos? Arguably the most successful entrepreneur in the world, the Amazon CEO, makes the case as directly as he can that his company’s GROWTH AND INNOVATION IS BUILT ON ITS FAILURES. Please managers, and leaders pay attention to what Bezos said now. “If you’re going to make a bold bet, they are going to be experiments, you don’t know if they’re going to work. Experiments are by nature prone to failure. But a few big successes compensate for dozens of things that didn’t work.”
These CEOs’ messages are easy to understand as it’s hard to put into practice. Sir, in Nigeria here, we visit CEOs, CEs, organizations, and governments. They extol the virtues of our innovations and creativity, yet so many of these leaders and organizations live in fear of mistakes, missteps, and disappointments. They blame the government and economy, thereby stopping themselves from the next move, having abysmal or no progress. 
Now, let me face you. Hear from Entrepreneurial Sage and Management Pundit. “If you’re not prepared to fail, you’re not prepared to learn. All learning processes are filled with failings. Unless people/organizations manage to keep learning as fast the world is changing, they will never keep growing and evolving” – Mike Ihezuo (2016).
The above is How Upward-Moving Organizations Learn & Grow.
Dr Mike Ihezuo is an entrepreneurial sage, a leader, and a motivational speaker. He can help your organization achieve its goals. He can be contacted. Reach out to him.
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