Innovation Debate

Part 2. Argument 1 - Failure is part of Innovation

Main Talking Points:

1. Citing Edison, Failure is an integral part of innovation. 2. Citing Honda CEO, Companies must tolerate failure to encourage innovation. 3. 3M: the story of the Post-it Note. A failure meets success. 4. Apple: Several short term failures built a path to success. 5. Citing IBM CEO, Innovative companies find ways to exploit failures.

Narrative:

“I have not failed, not once. I’ve discovered 999 ways that don’t work”. Such was Thomas Edison’s reported response when someone expressed consolation for the many failed attempts and experiments he encountered when working on the commercial light bulb. Having filed over 1,000 successful patents in his lifetime, Edison perfectly understood how closely failure is linked with innovation. Rather than focus on the time, energy and resources spent on short term failures, Edison kept his eyes fixed on longer term successes knowing that each time he failed, he was learning and moving closer to success. In essence, he understood that failure is an essential part of the innovation process.

Underscoring the linkage between failure and innovation, Sochiro Honda from the Honda Corporation stated that “Success is 99% failure.” A corporation that wants to remain relevant and be a leader of innovation in its industry must create a culture that tolerates failure and encourages employees despite the setbacks. To stimulate new ideas, managers must cultivate an environment where workers make productive mistakes and learn from those failures.

As a case in point, consider 3M and the creation of Post-it Notes. In the early 1970s, Spencer Silver a 3M researcher was working to find a strong adhesive.  He failed. The new adhesive was...