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It’s Only Common Sense: Goals for 2022—The Courage to Innovate

There is an expression, “Whoever tries the most stuff wins. Whoever fails at the most stuff wins.” This appeals to me because I really hate playing it safe and not trying something instead of risking failure. If you look at all the great ones—the innovators, the creators, the developers, the people who have made significant changes in the world—they were all risk-takers, and probably all a little crazy.

When Tom Peters said, “Test fast, fail fast, adapt fast,” he was talking about trying a lot of stuff, failing, and then trying something else, all while heading down the road to innovation.

Speaking of innovators, look at Jeff Bezos. He famously said, “What really matters is that companies that don’t continue to experiment, companies that don’t embrace failure, eventually get in a desperate position where the only thing they can do is to make a ‘Hail Mary’ bet at the end.”

I have found over the years that there are two kinds of people: those who play it safe and those who dare to try. The interesting thing is that those who dare to try eventually succeed. In the end, they are the ones who send a rocket ship to space and bring it back safely to be used again or find a way to turn around a DNA test in hours instead of days. They find a way to build a circuit board in 24 hours or build many PCB part numbers on one panel. They are the ones who dare to dream and keep trying repeatedly until they achieve that dream.

And there are the others who will never get there. In the words of “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky, “I never made a shot I didn’t take.” Why don’t people understand that?

I see examples of Gretzky’s idea all the time. In our business, it can manifest itself as salespeople who say, “I am not even going to try to get some business until we get back on schedule.” It could be engineers who say, “Sure, that new process might work, but then I have a friend who knew someone who tried it once and there were problems. Let other people solve those problems before we bring it in our shop.”

One of my personal favorites is, “If we keep sending out these sales emails someone is going to get mad,” referring to the thousand emails they sent that caused two customers to complain.

It boils down to having the guts, the courage to move forward where no one else has before. You have to be the first one to take the risk. If you are willing to do that, then you are willing yourself to succeed, or at least have a chance to succeed. Refer to that famous Gretzky quote about trying.

As we leave one year and enter another, it’s time to have the courage to try new things. The world has changed since COVID, more than we could ever have imagined at the end of 2019. It’s up to us, the innovators, the daring, and crazy ones to take risks, not only adapt to those changes and challenges, but to ride the wave of them as well.

Here is a little something from Kevin Roberts, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, in his book, Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands. Not only should you read this book, but take a huge piece of white poster board, and write down these words in big red marker. Now, hang that poster on your wall where you can see it while you’re working:

• Ready, fire, aim
• If it ain’t broke, break it
• Hire crazies
• Ask dumb questions
• Pursue failure
• Lead, follow, or get out of the way
• Spread confusion
• Ditch the office
• Read odd stuff
• Avoid moderation

And let me add a few more:

• Stop playing it safe
• Read, read, read
• If everyone else is doing it, do something else
• Nurture the oddballs in your organization, the ones who are a pain in the butt to manage

Get to know everyone in your shop. Start with the guy in shipping and then go to the guy who cleans the place up. Find out what they think. What are their ideas? You are not just buying their tasks; you’re buying their brains as well. Treasure them. Everyone is capable of a great idea if they are encouraged.

And I leave you this year with one of my favorite quotes of all time. I know many of you have heard it before, but it needs to be repeated often.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.—Teddy Roosevelt

And that, folks, is real common sense. Have a happy, successful new year!

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.