Fail often

June 19, 2012

On an unremarkable business park just outside Ann Arbor in Michigan sits The Museum of Failed Products. It’s like a huge supermarket, except that it contains one of each product – all of them failures. Products like Clairol’s Touch of Yoghurt Shampoo; Pepsi AM Breakfast Cola; and microwavable scrambled eggs. All of them withdrawn from sale after a few weeks or months. It turns out that 90% of products end up as failures.

It just goes to show that the way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas. So feel free to fail. Fail often, fail cheap and fail forwards.

Be kind

June 18, 2012

The Dalai Lama has been on a visit to Manchester. Here’s one of his throwaway lines “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible”.

Stick your neck out

June 15, 2012

We could really learn a lot from the giant tortoise. Unlike rutting stags, waring lions and rampaging football hooligans, they have a very civilised way of establishing who will have the status of dominant male. They simply stick their necks out as far as they can and whoever’s is the longest wins.

I might be sticking my neck out here, but shall we all try today to be a little bit more civilised?

Happy kiss day

June 14, 2012

Apparently today is Happy Kiss Day.

Go ahead. You have my permisssion. Be happy xx.

You can teach an old dog new tricks

June 13, 2012

With virtually no musical talent Gary Marcus decided to teach himself the guitar at the age of thrity-nine and a half. He suceeded, though he admits he was a bit slower to pick it up than had he been younger. As a psychologist, he’s used his experience to examine the science of learning in his book Guitar Zero. He concludes that it’s never too late whatever you want to learn.

Go on. Pick up that guitar that you’ve had in your coat cupboard for the past five years.

Go slow

June 12, 2012

My colleague Tom has just returned from a week on a narrow boat. At 4 miles per hour he says “It’s the fastest way of slowing down”. Research published in The Harvard Business Review has shown that when we are most relaxed the chemicals that stimulate creative thinking flow more easily.

Have a great idea today. Go slow.

If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much room

June 11, 2012

Don’t stay in your comfort zone. Happiness means being close to the edge…..just don’t fall off.

On difficult choices

June 7, 2012

Martin Wolf writing in The Financial Times on the Eurozone crisis said “When faced with difficult choices, human beings tend to choose denial”.

We’ve all done it. It just delays the inevitable. Make difficult choices.

Keep calm and drink tea

June 6, 2012

After a cold and wet Jubilee weekend, the British people showed their ability to laugh in the face of adversity. It reminded me of the words of Tim Smit, the man who created Cornwall’s Eden Project from a disused china clay pit. When asked how he managed to motivate the team that make the place seem so amazing, he simply said “Create the spirit of war in times of peace”.

We can do that.