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image credit: Joe Loong
To be honest, this post has less to do with failure and more to do with personal innovation from within the corporate structure—the struggle to make change happen, to get your ideas implemented if you aren’t in a senior leadership position.
In 2007, Doug Hall suggested that businesses should Fail Fast, Fail Cheap when it comes to innovation. Specifically he showed the business sense of failing quickly and cheaply:
photo credit: Troy Newell
I think we’ve reached the point at which if you aren’t transparent, authentic, and/or human you’ll be treated like a dirt sucking, crap-eating spammer. I think we have to start talking more about what’s next.
I realize that I’ve regurgitated some of the hackneyed language of social media in Tweets and posts. But now is the time to move beyond those second order concepts like “relationships.” We don’t need any more lists of tips to help us get more followers. We need a strategic understanding of what the real-time web will look like so that we can write our business plans and outline our strategies for community engagement.
Hair Saloon for Men, an Honorable Rebellion
In desperate need of a trim, I typed my zip code and “haircut” into my iPhone. The first hit pointed me “Hair Saloon for Men”—a saloon-themed “salon” for guys. I was curious (and desperate) enough to book the appointment.
Although their corporate website leaves something to be desired (hairsaloon.com), the whole experience reminded me of three critical business lessons…
I say this with the utmost respect, but Hair Saloon is not a upscale establishment. Sure, there’s no burnt hair perm smell from the chair next to you, but there’s also not a particular emphasis on style. Think of it as Barber Shop 2.0.
Background: I recently had the honor of writing a guest post for Abby Wambaugh. Excited to add some snark from another voice, I asked her to reciprocate. Excluding projects like ideaAnglers, this is the first time that I’ve asked someone to return the guest-post favor.
Even if profits are up. Even if your boss loves you. Even if your investors are chanting your name in the streets. Your job should never be easy.
That’s because when you view your job as easy, “Status Quo” is your middle name. Complacency sets in, and when the market changes, you’re left only with tales of yesterday’s success.
But when you view your job as a challenge (not necessarily as hard), you figure out how to make things better. You search diligently for the source of your problems, and you find solutions to fix them.
I’ve always thought that all businesses, regardless of their size or market position, could benefit from some form of collaboration. People in business, especially small business, stand to gain by learning from and partnering with others. And that’s why I’m in love with ideaAnglers.com
(Full disclosure: I’ve been involved with ideaAnglers for a few weeks as a guide, but I’m not directly compensated by them, nor will I be in the future)
There’s value in the direct collaboration that an agency and a printer have. There’s value in the pricing model that’s structured so that when a client’s program is more successful, a vendor earns more (I make a more detailed argument here).
I recently read this article on CNN Money that spotlights a stay at home mom turned 6-figure entrepreneur. There was also this one about teens-turned internet entrepreneurs on the New York Times website.
I think there’s an interesting dynamic going on here: People who are out of work (and out of options) are marketing their professional capabilities with the aid of the internet.
Moreover, I hope there’s a fracturing of corporate hierarchy going on, too.
It’s my opinion that in the pre-recession economy, many were rewarded for a lack of innovation. You came to work, put in your hours, climbed the ladder, and in return, you got the corner office and a golden parachute.
Entrepreneur.com recently blogged about biz/tech journo Michael S. Malone’s new book: The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You.
Malone argues that Gen Y (or the millennials, or whatever you want to call us) isn’t a hard-working or loyal generation, but it’s one that will, as Entrepreneur puts it:
“Accelerate the nation’s evolution form a corporate economy of worker bees to an entrepreneurial one of innovative thinkers and rapid change.”
While that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (sorry “worker bees”), I’m a little miffed about the hard-work/loyalty crack. I don’t think that loyalty and hard work are the point.
a blog by Andrew Swenson
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