Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think

by Peter H. Diamandis

sometimes crazy ideas are just that, crazy. Some are plain bad. Others are ahead of their time, or miss their market, or are financially impractical. Whatever the case, these notions are doomed. But failure is not necessarily the disaster that everyone assumes. In an article for Stanford Business School News, Professor Baba Shiv explains it this way: “Failure is a dreaded concept for most business people. But failure can actually be a huge engine of innovation. The trick lies in approaching it with the right attitude and harnessing it as a blessing, not a curse.” Shiv studies the role that the brain’s liking and wanting systems play in shaping our decisions, a field now known as neuroeconomics. When it comes to risk, he divides the world into two mind-sets: type 1 people are fearful of making mistakes. For them, failure is shameful and disastrous. As a result, they are risk averse, and whatever progress they make is incremental at best. On the other hand, type 2 people are fearful of losing out on opportunities. Places like Silicon Valley are full of type 2 entrepreneurs. “What is shameful to these people,” says Shiv, “is sitting on the sidelines while someone else runs away with a great idea. Failure is not bad; it can actually be exciting. From so-called failures emerge those valuable gold nuggets—the ‘ah-ha!’ moments of insight that guide you toward your next innovation.”