Seth Godin in his book “Small is the New Big” writes on page 52, “What people are afraid of isn’t Failure. It’s blame. Criticism.” Interesting, I thought. Most people in my experience defiantly default to a Fear of Failure excuse when explaining why they do what they do or don’t do what they know they could. This is a major hurdle in the path of innovation. I could fail is worth less than < I could get criticized. Wow.
If this is true all the most amazing innovation beliefs and methods and processes and insight in the whole world placed in the wrong social context won’t reap any innovation. So, culture and social context trump method and insights. Wow.
If that is the case and you are inclined to innovate, getting more skills in innovation and spending more time doing it is not at all as important as getting into a culture that supports it first. Further, if you are a business leader that has any influence on culture, my oh my, tend to your culture anyway you can! If the future is built on innovation then you can’t afford to not afford building your culture as open to innovation by NOT criticizing ideas. Support people who dare to fail, who dare to be criticized! I assure you, when they innovate they are not doing so for the love of failure or criticism. What they are thinking is “What if we could have it another way, a better way.”
