How Companies Grow Into Failure

How Companies Grow Into Failure

In the summer of 2008 I set about

the task of creating a physical transformation in myself.

I started to follow the plan known as

“Green faces”

At each meal you simply had to eat something that was green (as much as you like) and something that had a face.

(Oils and herbs also included).

Its brilliance was its simplicity.

I bought bags and bags of Spinach and avocados.

I stocked up on Eggs, Chicken, Pork chops, Tuna, Salmon, Steak.

I got off to a great start.

After a week or so I failed.

I didn’t call it that.

I called it “I changed my mind”

I didn’t REALLY want the result.

I told myself…

I wouldn’t mind it.

I wanted to drink wine with my friends more.

I wanted potatoes and chocolate more.

I didn’t just slightly change course.

I completely reverted back to what I was doing before (which was fine in all honesty)

Maybe it was true.

Maybe if I’d have investigated before I committed I would have discovered this

and not even started.

It’s important to know why you’re doing what you’re doing.

But failure does something in the brain.

It wires emotion to experience.

“Neurons that fire together, wire together” Heib 1949

The brain holds all the data from the experience as something like a location.

If the brain starts to see ingredients forming that suggest that you might be heading for that location again it starts to try and divert you away from it.

It uses the nervous system, hormones and emotions to subtly nudge you away from, in this case, diets.

It clouds your thinking, makes repeating the same mistakes more likely.

It’s protecting me from failure or more importantly, the judgement or being a failure.

Which I’m not of course.

I just used an unskilful method.

My recipe was off.

There was a lot of learning available for me.

I didn’t factor in other things that were important to me.

I didn’t clearly define what I was looking to move away from or towards.

I didn’t articulate the main obstacles and how I would overcome them.

Once I took the time to extract the learning I was able to go again with a more skilful strategy.

Putting words to the failure and what I would do differently took away the emotion and the association in my brain.

What I learned is that we all carry around many of these.

Particularly in the areas where we most struggle.

In fact the vast majority of our procrastination, frustration, overwhelm, stress, inability to achieve and even low energy is the result of associations from the past appearing in the current environment.

This is how the human brain operates and a company is a collection of humans.

Which means every company needs a clearly articulated process for learning from failure.

Not having such a system is guaranteeing resistance, procrastination, overwhelm, complexity, shiny object syndrome and all the other things we do to protect ourselves from judgment.

In fact, the more you’re willing to categorise something as a failure the greater your potential for growth.

I’m not suggesting perfectionism, I’m suggesting a constant drive to raise your standards.