When Success WAS a Failed Event

In business, it is widely known and now cautiously observed when a successful firm can become a viable candidate for subsequent failure. Lars Kolind (2006), the former CEO of Oticon, a leading Denmark-based maker of hearing aids, notes the propensity for this turn of fortune in his book, The Second Cycle: Winning the War Against Bureaucracy. He believes the three factors that can turn success into failure for a business are size, age, and success. Yes, success can actually be one a primary step to failure. It is evident that ideally we can position ourselves on the prior side of success and not the latter. Kolind shares that when some companies “enjoy success, they become complacent, lazy, and even arrogant, eventually forgetting the needs of their customers that were the initial source of their wealth and success.” This model translates well into our personal lives. Can you recall a time when you took a loved one for granted and possibly even became “complacent, lazy and even arrogant?” What was the result of that event? Very possibly the event or moment resulted in a failure response, one we hope was short term, that set you up for future success. Nature has a very common ebb and flow cycle, which we as fragile organic masses tend to mimic. The ultimate goal should be not to fight this flow, but to determine where you are in the cycle and make the most of it by making the best decisions for yourself and those around you at the time.

A second example from the world of design is described in the book, “Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design” by Henri Petroski (2006). Petroski states that “new artifacts and new technologies follow from the failure of existing ones to perform as promised…” He cites examples of the earliest successes of useful things found in nature. A rock made for a great hammer. Its success brought scrutiny, troubleshooting, comparisons and ultimately modifications into something with a handle, balanced head and functional shape, i.e. today’s hammer. The fact that these hammer rocks were used extensively and effectively reinforced their success. This overwhelming success also made it a target to widen its use, improve its function and streamline its abilities. This type of success-turned-failure is one that most folks and businesses seek, especially if the improvement can come from within the person or firm.

Another example of successes that could be viewed as failures is college athlete graduate rates. Ideally, the presence of these young men and women in college to further their studies AND engage in athletic events would be viewed as a success. However, data indicate that after entering college and attending classes, many student athletes fail to reach their primary goal of completing a higher education. Richard Lapchick (2008) finds that “One hundred percent of the women’s teams and 95 percent of the men’s teams in the tournaments graduated at least half of their white basketball student-athletes. By contrast, 93 percent of the women’s teams and only 54 percent of the men’s teams graduated at least half of their African-American basketball student-athletes.” Is the goal for all of our universities to try to graduate half of their student athletes? Many colleges have graduation rates above 75% and most private colleges are well above the 90% rate for all students. Comparing student athletes graduation rates to private college rates may be unfair, but an analysis of the benefits of a private institution shows that many times they parallel the type of treatment provided to student athletes. The central question is: how did we turn the success of possessing and developing an athletic skill into a failure to graduate from a university (one which accepted the ahtlete based on prior scores and potential to be academically successful at their institution)?

Other common examples of when successes ultimately turn to failures come from mega-business. First, the fast food industry began as a special treat out for the family and not a stable part of our diet. Second, Walmart began with the purpose of providing a few items at low cost and now exerts strong influence over the behavior of many U.S. residents, at least the one third of them who visit a Walmart every week. This approach to consumerism is unprecedented and has altered how our society functions. Corporations set consumer values and our views of ourselves, others and cultures from other countries. The possibility of producing efficient, household products to make our life easier beginning in the 1950′s has resulted in a specialized cleaning solution for every pot, pan, chair, auto, sweater, sock, as well as a plastic gadget to hold, organize, monitor, hang, and store every other piece of pre-landfill material we have bought and continue to buy in a feeding-frenzied philosophy of artificial need. IWe challenge you to estimate the number of times you use the term ‘need’ in your life and then reflect on what you actually need in light of what many people around the world have. Residents of less consumerist cultures have regular access to healthy organically grown food, clean water, safe and comfortable places to live and build community. None of these are available at Walmart. Walmart has become a success turned failure. We challenge you to sincerely consider your true need and determine for yourself whether we have dangerously exceeded our needs. Have we convinced ourselves that we need a plastic toilet brush and holder in every one of our four bathrooms; hundreds of CDs or DVDs securely protected in hundreds of pounds of toxic plastics that will remain in our landfills long after our children’s children have come and gone; and individualized cheap, plastic storage containers for every single item that we own, marked and stored away for the one or two moments in our lives that we might need them? It seems we have successfully become prisoners of need: buying and washing, cleaning, organizing, throwing out and losing the sanctity of our free time. Our obligations to our things erodes our time with each other, time to learn, enjoy and simply be. in the present as opposed to being somewhere else like Walmart buying next week’s supply of landfill material.

A final example of a success that became a failure is outlined by Ryan Nelson (2008) in his article Applied Insight: Tracks in the Snow. The article describes a perspective on IT project management related to accomplishing the three major tenets of a project – on time, on budget and within specifications with the required features and functions. Achieving these tenets is a difficult task in itself. The unwanted possibility of a “failed success” is what Nelson calls a project that accomplishes the three tenets but “fails to appeal to the intended users or fails to add much value to the business.” This possibility opens up an entirely different view of succeeding only to fail: one has accomplished the criteria that were set at the beginning a project, but even when these criteria are met, there is a possibility that the outcome will ultimately be viewed as a failure. This example is analogous to fighting an invisible monster. In this case, the truth may simply come down to the philosophy that you cannot address everything in advance and if we have to let a few variables alone, trying to ensure success may be the one to choose.

Lapchack, R. & Bustamante, M. (2008). NCAA tourney titlist in college degrees? Holy Cross. Sports Journal. Downloaded January 12, 2009 at http://www.bus.ucf.edu/sport/public/news/articles/article_39.htx.

Kolind, L. (2006). Three factors that can turn success into failure. Downloaded on February 19, 2009 at Knowledge@Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1539).

Petroski, H. (2006). Success through failure. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Nelson, R. (2008). Applied insight – Tracks in the snow. CIO online. Downloaded on February 21, 2009 at http://www.cio.com/article/24423/Applied_Insight_Tracks_in_the_Snow.