If 96% of new projects or innovation initiatives FAIL to meet or beat expectations then we must learn to “fail faster”. I didn’t coin that phrase but I use it a lot when talking to traditional companies that want to do something innovative on the web. It seems that many companies are not keen on failure, it brings bad connotations, and is not seen as a good career move. The problem is that innovating is a messy process filled with ambiguity and unintended consequences and outcomes. Any company that wants to innovate in any area needs to be quick to start projects and quick to kill them as well, the quicker you can fail, the more you can invest in projects that are successful. Fail Faster should be the mantra of any company that wants to innovate, and it should look carefully at its culture to help put in place messages and symbols that will counter-act any past messages that frowned on failure or produced fear of failure.
Take a look at this slideshow from business week on innovation, it is a great little primer:
Slide Show: How to Learn Creativity and Innovation
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