In 1943, the first computer was developed. From a building-size calculation machine, to a room-size computer, desktop, laptop, palm, and computer programming systems integrated into a mobile phone, many trials and errors have been gone through in this development process. Not only the development of information technology is surprising everyone, but the rapidly increasing innovation rate does too. Since long time ago, Bill Gates has known that innovation is a continuous process. He says that there is always something new coming out every 18 months (Fried 1). The innovation process is not simple, and repeated failures are inevitable comes. A leading speaker in innovation industry, Paul Sloane, says, "If you give people freedom to innovate, the freedom to succeed, then you must also give them the freedom to fail" (qtd. in Kotelnikov 1). Thomas Edison experienced failures over ten thousands times to produce the first light bulb (Love 11). The fail of Omega, a database, leaded to the success of the most popular desktop database - Microsoft Access (Kotelnikov 1).
An 1890s advertisement showing model Hilda Clark i...
Thomas Edison and his early phonograph. Cropped fr...
caff cokeCEO Roberto Goizueta of Coca-Cola strengthens marketing and branding strategies after he failed to introduce the New Coke (Farson and Keyes 36-37).
Humans try hard not to make mistakes; however, failing is an integral part of the learning process. Many of the most successful people in society today have failed many more times than they succeed. To be successful in a rapidly changing business environment, especially in the information technology industry, companies should not only learn from failures - they should learn to fail intelligently as a strategy to encourage innovation and improvement.
Everyone hates failure. According to Cannon and Edmonson, failing experiences or unfavorable outcomes result in negative feelings (4). People feel shameful and uncomfortable when they fail. They choose not to acknowledge it because of human pride. No...