Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation by Richard Farson, Ralph Keyes
Success in today’s business economy demands nonstop innovation. But fancy buzzwords, facile lip service, and simplistic formulas are not the answer. Only an entirely new mindset — a new attitude toward success and failure — can transform managers’ thinking, according to Richard Farson, author of the bestseller Management of the Absurd, and Ralph Keyes, author of the pathbreaking Chancing It: Why We Take Risks, in this provocative new work.
According to Farson and Keyes, the key to this new attitude lies in taking risks. In a rapidly changing economy, managers will confront at least as much failure as success. Does that mean they’ll have failed? Only by their grandfathers’ definition of failure. Both success and failure are steps toward achievement, say the authors. After all, Coca-Cola’s renaissance grew directly out of its New Coke debacle, and severe financial distress forced IBM to completely reinvent itself.