Failure is an option
I love when an idea I have is met with a resounding thud or silence. This was the kind of response I got this morning in our companies all staff meeting. Why would anyone appreciate a thud or silence? Simply put, it’s because this thud is a sign of either a failure on my part to communicate my idea or a failure on my part to understand the industry I’m currently in.
Failure isn’t something I go looking every time I open my mouth but it’s healthy to fail. It’s important to fail because it teaches you something about yourself and what you think you understand. The lesson a person learns from a failure is more knowledge then they would have had if they were to not even speak up.
In my case a peer asked what the company was thinking about a possible event in January and if that events room nights could be counted towards 2009 room night goals. After a minute of discussion on this I opened my mouth to bring in the social media aspect of this. The suggestion I had was to place a coupon code on our Facebook and Twitter pages along with a link to our booking engine. This would require us to work with local venues to get buy-in and participants for the promotion.
Silence fell over the room for a few seconds. Then the chatter started again. The consensus was the social media tie-in would not work because venues would not go for it. They would want as much as they could get per item or room and would not bite on a tie-in that offered a discount or incentive of some sort.
So I went back to my desk and started to work on other things. Then it hit me why not take the same idea and adapt it. Instead of hotels why not Car Rentals, Metro Transit, restaurants or bars?
This is why failure is a good thing. It keeps a person thinking and adapting to the situation at hand or approaching.
When has failure helped you to adapt?
As to the first comment: “…this thud is a sign of either a failure on my part to communicate my idea or a failure on my part to understand the industry I’m currently in.” I think it’s the second. The idea seemed to be understood, but the seasoned professionals in the room fail to see the effectiveness and were taking a moment to gauge the interests of the people they work with every day. Keep in mind that the industry as a whole is slow to adapt. While you can cite examples such as Travelocity, Expedia, Travel Blogs, etc as forward thinking and embracing technology, keep in mind that the hotels, CVBs, etc didn’t create those things, but were instead forced to embrace them.