Friday, September 23, 2011

Tim Berry asks "why can't failures be included in speakers' bios?"

Tim Berry, in his great "Planning Startups Stories" blog, brings up a provocative assertion that is right up this site's alley:

I say entrepreneurs should agree on full disclosure in their bios. We should list not just our successes, but also the failures. Nobody lists the failures.

And he lists several reasons why this would improve our understanding of entrepreneurs and, ironically, success as well. Part of Tim's argument, which I agree with completely, is that people look at successful entrepreneurial ventures and create patterns that they believe are success rules. Then they publish them in books like "Good to Great" and readers think they have the magic formula. But because these books deliberately exclude failures (even from the same entrepreneurs!), their assessments are invalid and, worse, leave the mistaken impression that entrepreneurial success is replicable if you follow their 5 principles.

New businesses operate in a world of complexity. External issues, coincidence, luck, timing, etc., overwhelm operating principles when it comes to success and failure in entrepreneurial ventures. This doesn't mean you don't work hard and smart, but it does mean that those qualities don't guarantee anything at all.

No comments:

Post a Comment