Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Innovation "Catalysts" view making mistakes as an essential part of the process


In 2009, I read a book called "The Catalyst," which describes the mindsets of people who've successfully built new businesses inside established companies. Renewing organic growth is a difficult task, and "The Catalyst" is a very useful book for anyone working in new business development.

One point that comes out quickly in the book is the necessity to experiment, "fail fast," learn and iterate. These points were also brought out in another excellent new book, "Discovery-Driven Growth." I see these two books as companion volumes. Both address growing new businesses within companies. "The Catalyst" focuses on mindset, "Discovery-Driven Growth" describes the methodology.

Here is one of the "Catalysts" profiled in the book discussing mistakes. John Haugh was hired by Mars Inc. and put in charge of growing its specialty chocolate line, Ethel M.

Haugh decided to focus on creating retail "lounges" where customers could buy and enjoy the chocolates, rather than relying on the fiercely-competitive grocery channel. Haugh also carefully listened to lots of voices--customers, suppliers and partners--to learn as much as he could, fast.


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[Haugh] elected to launch with four different kinds of lounges: "We're not going to go out and have one perfected prototype," he explained, "because we don't even know what that would look like." The team checked in with consumers throughout the design process to determine the best color palettes, types of furniture, and overall ambience for the stores. They also asked suppliers, partners, and the vendors of their chocolate-making equipment for input. Their intent was to refine the new business as they went along:
We'd know within three days if a store was working. Are people coming in, are they sitting where you think they will, are they ordering what you think they will? You know very soon. And we'd test a slightly different design and layout for the next one to open. We did make errors--we knew we would. But we were prepared to react quickly and to fix them.
Indeed, Haugh viewed making mistakes as part of the process:
You know what? You're going to make a bunch of mistakes. What you want to do is to try and correct them. When you're younger, you don't like to make mistakes. You think that's the thing that is going to knock you off the track. You get a little bit older and get some gray in your hair, and then you realize it's OK to make mistakes. It's how you learn the most.
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From The Catalyst: How YOU Can Become an Extraordinary Growth Leader, by Jeanne Liedtka, Robert Rosen, and Robert Wiltbank, published by Crown Business. Reprinted by permission. (c) 2009. All Rights Reserved

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