QUOTES OF THE DAY
"Nine out of ten businesses fail; so I came up with a foolproof plan - create ten businesses." - Robert Kiyosaki
"Never, never, never, never give up." - Winston Churchill
"Replace fear with curiosity" - Steven Spielberg
“if you cannot fail, you cannot learn.” - Eric Ries
SUMMARY
The entrepreneurial journey is rarely smooth and straightforward. More often than not, businesses fail, which can lead to financial loss, provoke negative emotions (e.g., grief, shame, and self-blame), and damage one’s self-esteem. For those that do survive, the economic payoff is typically less than average while the price of independence can come at the expense of long working hours, social isolation and stress as founders confront uncertainty, deal with negative feedback, and worry about increasing demands by customers and employees.
Failure can be incredibly painful for entrepreneurs who are deeply passionate about their ventures. But not all failures are created equal. Some failures are avoidable, some unavoidable, and others necessary. The latter type of failure may be particularly important in the context of entrepreneurship where complex decisions are made under extreme uncertainty. While we learn as children that failure is “bad,” recognizing and learning from failure can be a strategy for avoiding bigger failures.
So how do you overcome your natural fear of failure? How do you turn failure and rejection into opportunity? And, what can failure teach you about yourself?
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT AS YOU DO THE READINGS
1. Why is failure so difficult for entrepreneurs?
2. How can failure be beneficial for you according to Jonathan Haidt? Give three examples from his book.
3. What about entrepreneurship -- is failure required for success?
4. What did Jia Jiang learn from 100 days of rejection?
5. What are the main lessons from the demonstration we did in class?
6. What are the three different types of failure according to Edmondson? What are some strategies to learn from failure?
7. What is the biggest reason that business fail according to John Taffer? Do you agree with him?
REQUIRED READINGS
- What it’s like to pursue a dream for 30 years — and fail [read here]
- Haidt, J. (2006) "Flourishing" Ch.7 [download here]
- Wagner, E. (2013) "9 Lessons from a 10-time startup failure" Forbes. [read here]
- Edmondson, A. (2011). “Strategies for Learning from Failure.” Harvard Business Review [read here]
- 100 Days of Rejection Therapy Can Make You Fearless [read here]
- The Biggest Reason Businesses Fail [watch here] John Taffer explains why the biggest reason businesses fail is blaming someone else.
- Embracing Failure [watch here] Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx, describes how her mindset of embracing failure has helped her take risks and learns valuable lessons.
- The best gift I ever survived [watch here]
- 15 famous failures before success [watch here]
OPTIONAL MATERIALS
- The Reality of Failure [watch here] Entrepreneur Andrew Dreskin of Ticketfly discusses that accepting failure is critical
- Developing Grit [watch here] This video gives practical suggestions for developing grit.
- Conan O'Brien [watch here]
- Nietzsche on hardship [watch here]
- Steve Jobs: How to live before you die [watch here]
- The Last Lecture [watch here]
- According to New Research, You Should Probably Start Your Own Business [read here]
- Working with failure [read here] This article compares failure in different industries and gives practical suggestions for working with failure to learn from mistakes and decide how to move forward.
- 10 Amazing Entrepreneurs Who Had Accomplished Nothing By Age 30 [read here]
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Take Quiz 6: Learning from Failure (due on Oct 11 at noon on Canvas)
2. Rejection Therapy mini project and presentations (due Oct 18)
3. Classroom Discussion: Learning from Failure
Business failure is pervasive and can be incredibly painful for entrepreneurs who are deeply passionate about their ventures. But not all failures are created equal. Some failures are avoidable, some unavoidable, and others necessary. The latter type of failure may be particularly important in the context of entrepreneurship where complex decisions are made under extreme uncertainty. While we learn as children that failure is “bad,” recognizing and learning from failure can be a strategy for avoiding bigger failures. Failure is also how science works as counter-intuitive as this may sound.
1. First, read the chapter from Jonathan Haidt’s book on the “Uses of Adversity” [download here]. Discuss what are the three reasons, according to Haidt, why failure can be beneficial and help you grow as a person (use examples from the chapter).
2. Watch Steve Job’s Stanford Commencement Address [watch here]. Alternatively, you can watch JK Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Speech or Conan O’Brien’s one. What role did failure play in the life of these highly successful people? What was their mindset when facing adversity?
3. Find a video (e.g., on youtube) of another successful entrepreneur (other than the ones above) who have previously failed and discuss some of the lessons they learned from facing adversity in their life.
4. Give one example of failure from your own life and discuss what did you learn from this experience. What kind of failure was this based on Amy Edmondson's [read here] categorization? Do you think that failure plays an important role to build a culture of learning, creativity, and innovation?
5. Finally, discuss how do you overcome your natural fear of failure? How do you turn failure and rejection into an opportunity? And, what can failure teach you about yourself? [read here].