Creative Reaction

Gizmodo has compiled a list of its favorite “serendipitous innovations”.

A reminder that allowing for affordable mistakes and learning from them is an important part of an innovative culture.

There’s a fair amount of debate to the question, “which offers the best learning opportunities; successes or mistakes?”

Those who say, “successes” always seem to point to “stupid” mistakes, not honest ones, to discredit the learning opportunities of failures. Create a Culture of Successful Failure at Blogging Innovation puts mistakes in context and is careful to differentiate between “honorable” failure and “incompetent” failure.

Amongst many examples, the article points to Honda’s mistakes in bringing low-powered motorcycles to the U.S. in 1959, quoting Soichiro Honda, the company’s founder:

“Many people dream of success. Success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. Success represents the 1 percent of your work that results from the 99 percent that is called failure.”

Are we being so risk-averse that we are loosing ground to our competitors? Are we giving our teams the opportunities and “space” to make mistakes and to learn? Are we commending “honorable” failures? There’s plenty to think about in the article.