iSnare.com - Free Content Articles Directory
Authors Contents [Advanced Search][Add OpenSearch][Job Search]
Distribute your articles to thousands of article sites for only $2 and below! Read more...

Index  Leadership
 

Reinventing Failure : Designing Success!

 
[ Contact the Author] [ Send to a Friend] [ Article Publisher] [Make PDF] [ Print] [ Bookmark & Share]
 
Read our Terms of Service before reprinting this article. The submitter specified above has claimed the rights to this article.
Harald Anderson

I am fascinated by problems. I like to think of myself as a solution oriented individual. However when problems creep into my life as they always do I know that I am in for a major learning experience.

I just finished reading a book this week that belongs on the bookshelf of every entrepreneur. It is called “Juice, The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz.” This book allows you to take a peek inside the labs of the brightest minds and better understand how they relentlessly question and discover the infinite number of ways that we can imagine and create solutions. The book is an awesome expose on how world class inventors on the planet search for problems, seek to understand them and develop solutions that can only come about by perceiving the problem in a different manner. Every entrepreneur should read this book! It is chock full of wisdom that we can apply to our business lives.

Albert Einstein once commented that the most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile. He hypothesized that your answer to that question would determine your destiny. I feel that most people have decided that the universe is hostile. In so doing their immediate response to any problem only compounds the hostility. However, the great minds always teach us that regardless of the problem there is a major lesson to be understood if we only learn to look for it. The history of the world is literally the history of transformative breakthroughs.

In the book ““Juice, The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz” the author clearly demonstrates that the one factor that separates world class inventors from wannabes is that they celebrate the feedback they receive from FAILURE. The most innovative minds recognize that within every failure lies the true and genuine information that is required to learn how to better understand the problem and overcome the obstacles that it presents. They are fascinated by the feedback they receive and are consistently focused on experimenting further because of the feedback that will provide. A powerful lesson for all of us! Failure is feedback and within that feedback is the wisdom of incredible success. Or as Dr. Wayne Dyer as stated, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Take for example the story of Dean Kamen the inventor of the Segway, the two wheeled personal electronic vehicle that is revolutionizing transportation in our major cities. One day in 1990, Kamen witnessed a wheelchair bound man trying to navigate a curb en route to a shopping center. He followed the man into an ice cream store and was astonished at how the man struggled to reach for the counter and grab his ice cream cone. Within that experience Kamen was both outraged and inspired. The seeds of the Segway were born. Two years later after numerous disappointments Kamen slipped on a wet bathroom floor and realized that the real problem he was confronting in his technology was one of balance. He and his team of engineers honed in on the enabling technology of electronic gyroscopes that could provide “automatic balance.” It was only after years and years of failure and celebrating the feedback he received that they could focus on the successful introduction of the Segway prototype. Today, according to Kamen the Segway is the answer to the urban transportation problem. 43% of the world’s gas is used by cars and almost 20% of individuals’ disposable income goes to car payments and gasoline. The market for the Segway is several billion people! A fascinating creation brought about by someone who simply disagreed with limitations imposed by the status quo.

What is your greatest problem in life right now?

What is the greatest problem in your business?

The late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was fond of saying that, “When God wants to send you a gift he wraps it up in a problem and the bigger the gift that God sends you the bigger the problem.”

If the Segway can be born by witnessing a wheelchair bound man in pursuit of an ice cream cone what are the possibilities that can occur in your life if you learn to seek the lesson in your problems?

As Nathan Myrhrvold, the former Chief Technologist at Microsoft Corporation has prophesied “There’s never been a better time to have big ideas.”

Eureka! When you reinvent failure you design your own success.

Be Careful What You Agree With!

Important NoticeDISCLAIMER: All information, content, and data in this article are sole opinions and/or findings of the individual user or organization that registered and submitted this article at Isnare.com without any fee. The article is strictly for educational or entertainment purposes only and should not be used in any way, implemented or applied without consultation from a professional. We at Isnare.com do not, in anyway, contribute or include our own findings, facts and opinions in any articles presented in this site. Publishing this article does not constitute Isnare.com's support or sponsorship for this article. Isnare.com is an article publishing service. Please read our Terms of Service for more information.

Harald Anderson is the co-founder of Art Inspires a leading online gallery of motivational and inspirational posters, prints. “When Art Inspires, Dreams Become Realities. His goal in life is to become the kind of person that his dog already thinks he is.http://www.artinspires.com
Article Tags: failure [See Dictionary], feedback [See Dictionary], problem [See Dictionary]
Got a question about this article? Ask the community!
Article published on September 14, 2005 at Isnare.com
 
Rate [Ratings: 5 / 5] [Votes: 1]

Leadership: Intelligent Delegation
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Delegation is essentially being able to let go – to let some of the power out of your hands and into the hands of someone else...

Leadership: The Magic Of Feedback
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Many organizations are over managed Key executives believe in the process of micro managing subordinates and overseeing all activities...

Leadership: Thriving On Feedback
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Have you ever wondered what makes a great leader I contend that what makes a great leader is that they cherish and value the feedback they receive from the decisions they have made...

Leadership: Learning From Past Leaders
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

I enjoy reading biographies By learning about the lives of leaders I am better able to understand the challenges I face today...

Developing Leadership Skills
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Some people appear as such natural leaders one wonders if they were born with the quality of leadership...

Leadership: Vision, Management And Motivation
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

A good leader essentially needs to be a motivator He should be able to consistently inspire his team to strive for quality and excellence in their work...

Leadership: The One Crucial Question
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

The past few years have shown me many ups and downs I have experienced success but also faced my share of setbacks and obstacles...

Leadership: What Winners Always Learn
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

I would like to say life is always easy for me, but that is not the case The past couple of years have been a roller coaster...

Three Pillars Of Leadership
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

The three pillars on which leadership thrives are actually three areas of personal mastery – focus, feedback, and leadership...

Leadership: Art Or Science
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Leadership: Art Or Science The three major problems that affext most organizations are low morale, high stress and job dissatisfaction...

Enlightened Leadership: Fact Or Fiction?
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Every day, we are bombarded with millions of words both spoken and written The challenge of leaders today is to cut through the noise and connect with employees...

Common Sense Is The Best Leadership Quality
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

While there is no doubt about the fact that common sense works where all other techniques fail it is equally true that common sense is not all that common...

Leadership - Communicating The Vision
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

It is perilous to assume that just because you hold a clear vision, everyone around you understands it as clearly...

Leadership Means Clarity Of Vision
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

Leaders have vision; they can see beyond their nose, so to speak Vision refers to the ability to see things far ahead in terms of time, evolution and growth...

Leadership: The Secret Sauce
Submitted by: Harald Anderson

One normally tends to associate leadership with an ability to obtain greater productivity from employees...

Adapting Your Leadership Style
Submitted by: Ryan Scholz

Leadership is very much situational One capability that excellent leaders possess is the ability to adapt their leadership style to fit the situation...

The Five Commandments of Leadership
Submitted by: Roberto Sedycias

Self help on leadership is a tough job and needs to be done effectively, so that the matters do not take a bad shape...

Executive Leadership Skills - Leadership Quotes
Submitted by: Annette Estes

Are leaders born or made Most people would say both – part nature, part nurture...

Now You Can Have Super Motivated Staff With These 8 Proven Tips
Submitted by: Andrew Rondeau

As a manager, one of the key skills is providing feedback on staff performance How easy is it to give positive feedback, when someone has performed a great job...

Your Perception Creates Your Reality
Submitted by: Ingrid Syperski

“What we think about we bring about” As quoted by Napoleon Hill...

My Experience With Lean Continuous Process Improvement
Submitted by: Mike Ridpath

When I first heard of Lean I was a production/human resources manager for a small marine electronics manufacturer in Bellingham, Washington...

Transformational Leadership: Inspiring to Change
Submitted by: Akhil Shahani

Say the word “leader” and most of us envision a knight-like figure charging headlong, inspiring his troops and generally leading from the front...

Team Leadership Training: Recipe For Leadership
Submitted by: Akhil Shahani

Who needs someone breathing down one’s neck at the workplace Employees of all organizations need their bosses to be more than mere supervisors...

Not Everything is Leadership - Part 1: Power Wielding Vs. Referent Power
Submitted by: John Dentico

Imagine for a moment you are standing by the side of your house and doing some work on it Your Neighbor Bob comes over to see how you are doing...

The Power Within
Submitted by: Tammy AS Kohl

The Power Within The phrase you ‘create your own reality’ is something that many new age folks talk about, but what does it really mean, and how does it apply to you...

Can An Ultimate Leadership Guide Ever Exist?
Submitted by: Simon Oates

Leadership often comes across as a vast and confusing topic There are many reasons why this is the case: - Personal Development is an unscientific process, and therefore clear and simple techniques are hard to validate...

Is An Ultimate Leadership Guide The Answer?
Submitted by: Simon Oates

In the past 10 years, there has been a huge cry for ultimate leadership guides to come flying off the British and American presses...

Should All World Leaders Speak in English?
Submitted by: A Nutt

Language allows people to communicate, learn, and grow which is the fundamental underpinning of society’s progress...

Support Your Cause With a Petition Online
Submitted by: Allison Ryan

You can easily create a petition online and make it available to people all over the world In this way you can collect a huge number of signatures in support of the cause...

Guidelines For Starting a Petition
Submitted by: Sarah Martin

When you feel that a situation needs to be changed, there are ways of bringing this issue to the attention of the authorities with the power to make the changes...

Isnare.com Footer Divider

© 2004-2009. Isnare Free Articles - An Isnare Online Technologies Free Articles Project. All Rights Reserved.   Privacy Policy