Friday, June 25, 2004

Law #19: The Law of Failure

(This entry is part of a series I am writing on The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.)

The Law of Failure says that "failure is to be expected and accepted".

Nothing interesting ever happens unless we take risks.  The authors encourage an atmosphere of risk-taking with a good discussion of why individuals tend to be afraid of taking risks.

The chapter also includes another important point:  When you realize you've made a mistake, cut your losses.

It's just so hard to admit a mistake.  Denial is a wonderful thing.

In his book, Barry Moltz busts the myth that persistence is the most important thing for an entrepreneur.  Moltz claims that winners are people who know when to quit.

I completely agree.  We need to give ourselves the freedom to take risks and try a lot of different things.  But the obvious corollary here is that not all of those risks will work out.  We need to learn to quickly recognize the ones that don't and take the appropriate action.

I could write lots of stuff about the topic of risk-taking, but I already have.  :-)