Page 209 - Free the Idea Monkey

They are going to deliver on the promise you made to Wall Street.
You must go find those really smart, really capable, really coura-
geous risk takers and offer them jobs. They will get it done. They
will help you keep your promise. They believe. Most of your current
team does not.
PROMOTE FAILURE

Entrepreneurs understand that each small failure brings them
closer to the solution. So find ways to demand lots of baby-step fail-
ures that promote learning and create a culture of action. This will
get you to the finish line and keep fear of failure from locking up
your innovation engine.
Now on to the innovation leaders who report directly to the CEO:
LISTEN TO THE YOUNGSTERS

They can see things that you cannot. Remember when you used
to be the youngest person in the room and all the terrific ideas you
had (but had problems getting implemented)?
FAIL FORWARD

Get into the habit of creating many experiments and celebrat-
ing the learning, no matter the outcome, e.g., “in this experiment,
we learned that people did not understand our offer; in this experi-
ment we learned we were charging too much; in this experiment we
learned that the button had to be in a different place.” Each “failure”
is actually a success because the team has learned something impor-
tant and has moved one step closer toward getting it right.

194 S O L V I N G T H E I N N O V A T I O N N I G H T M A R E