3 Types of Failure to Avoid #leadership

1. Knowingly doing the wrong thing = Don't be evil.

2. Failing to gather the right data = Simpson's Paradox

3. Prioritizing research over experience = Decision Paralysis



Decision Paralysis - the futile quest for data perfection. More decisions need to be made on a directional basis. If the data says that doing X increases revenue by 40% and doing Y increases 10%, it doesn't matter if you are 5% off. The decision is clear.

Amplify’d from web.hbr.org

3 Types of Failure to Avoid

Innovation experts have long argued that companies should be more tolerant of failure. But not all failure is created equally. Here are three types of failures that rarely contribute to learning and should be avoided whenever possible: Knowingly doing the wrong thing. When a project falls apart because someone hid information or misled others, any learning is moot. Failure is only acceptable when the project was done with good intentions. Failing to gather the right data. Often failure can be avoided by doing some simple research: asking target customers for input or testing an idea before launching it. Prioritizing research over experience. Some things are unknowable without real-life experiments. Don't waste resources on researching a theory when you can create a prototype or conduct an experiment that will give you a more realistic answer.

Knowingly doing the wrong thing. When a project falls apart because someone hid information or misled others, any learning is moot. Failure is only acceptable when the project was done with good intentions.

Failing to gather the right data. Often failure can be avoided by doing some simple research: asking target customers for input or testing an idea before launching it.

Prioritizing research over experience. Some things are unknowable without real-life experiments. Don't waste resources on researching a theory when you can create a prototype or conduct an experiment that will give you a more realistic answer. Read more at web.hbr.org

 

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