Don’t take a cavalier attitude toward potential disaster, but recognize that experimentation is essential for building a growing, successful company.
I have had some thoughts recently that I wanted to get out there. One of my pet peeves is the constant talk on podcasts or articles I see about how great it is to fail. “Fail early, fail often.” I always take exception to that. My goal both here and as a teacher at the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas is to help our readers and my students NOT fail. Failure is expensive! You can ruin your credit and your reputation. And it can be devastating to your psyche. Not to mention you will also probably hurt other people who lose their jobs or don’t get paid.
“But we learn more from our failures than we do our successes,” you might say. Sure – you can learn a lot from failure, but it’s awful. Learn from the mistakes of others so you don’t fail. Besides that, I also prefer living by the mantra that, “If you never give up, you will never fail.” That said, what I really think many of the “failure advocates” (for lack of a better term) are really saying is, “Don’t be afraid to experiment.”
Experiments that don’t work out – as long as you don’t bet the entire farm at once – are not “failures.” These are just things you tried that didn’t get the results you needed so you pulled the plug on it. And experiments ARE necessary if you want to run a growing, successful company that evolves over time.
You may be asking, “What kind of experiments?”
In an AEC firm context, many come to mind. First and foremost, experiments in marketing. What are you trying there that you didn’t do before? Are there any new tactics? Using AI for different website experiences based on what a specific visitor is interested in? Being much, much more active with your email program? Doing a podcast or video series? Doing weekly messages from your CEO on video that you share on social media? Trying out a new working visibility program with wrapped or branded company vehicles and better signage? Having a manned 24-hour “hot line” for clients to call who are having a problem? Adopting new branding? Creating a whole new service package and selling it like a product? Selling free or low cost audits of a client’s facilities as a way to get an “in”? Marketing requires constant experimentation. It won’t all work but the downside risk of an experiment not working out is usually pretty low.
Or what about people and organization? Running a business requires constantly evaluating whether or not you have the right people in the right roles. Have you done any experiments trying specific people out in new roles? Have you promoted anyone who is not ostensibly “qualified” for the job? Have you brought in someone new to add a whole new service line? Have you created an all-new role for someone to get something done that you really want to get accomplished? These are all experiments that may or may not work out.
I could go on here but the message is this: Don’t confuse failure with experimentation – for your people or yourself. They are two different things. “Failure” means major business failure to me. I do not subscribe to the theory that one of my guest speakers once told my students, that “everyone who is a millionaire has gone broke at least once.” That’s BS. In fact, very, very few of the wealthiest and most successful people I know in this business (or any other business) have ever gone broke. We don’t want to have a cavalier attitude toward potential disaster. That is just not smart.
But experimentation – trying new things continuously – is essential. That shouldn’t be discouraged. We don’t want our people afraid to try new things for fear of reprimand or losing their jobs. We need to encourage that because every so often one of those experiments will yield a major breakthrough. Do enough of them and odds are you will make a major discovery that can positively impact the future of your business.
Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.