Page 103 - Free the Idea Monkey

e.g., “iteration phase 3” or “project optimize.” If your team still resists
the idea of iterative soft launches, just remind them that if this
approach was good enough for Columbus and the Wright brothers,
it is probably good enough for them.

LEARN FROM HISTORY

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat

it,” wrote philosopher George Santayana.

Most of us know that, and that’s why we study the magazine

stories, business review articles and books written about successful

companies. We want to know what worked.

But when a once-innovative company gets into trouble, it’s easy

to start thinking that

The introduction of failure its business model
as a personal brand attribute is new. was fatally flawed
You will not find a sentence in literature and there’s nothing
to be learned from
like “I am such a failure!” prior the company’s his-
to the Civil War.

tory. And that, as

Santayana pointed out, is a huge mistake.

An upstart home builder, who happens to be a former client of

ours, is not making that mistake. He is learning from the once-great

Ford Motor Company. With all the troubles Ford is going through, it

is easy to forget just how innovative Henry Ford was.

To understand just how clever he was, let’s go back to the late

1800s. You want one of those newfangled horseless carriages that

everyone is talking about. So you meet with a person who draws one

up for you. You talk about the size, what it will look like, what kinds

of bells and whistles yours will include, and how it will be nicer than

88 I FAIL, THEREFORE I AM (AN INNOVATOR)