There are Always Reasons to Fail
The reasons to fail aren’t interesting, what matters is succeeding in spite of them.
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There is a certain kind of person who enjoys pointing out why something will not work. They come to meetings and try to sound smart, shooting down other people’s ideas. Eventually, they become gatekeepers of new ideas as they represent a hurdle any new idea needs to overcome to get anywhere.
These people are not helpful.
There are always reasons something will not work. There are always reasons to fail. Those reasons are not interesting.
What matters are the reasons it might work.
To be a compelling idea, it needs to have reasons it might work that can overcome the myriad reasons it might fail. That potential is the true measure of an idea, and not all ideas have it. Great ideas are defined by it.
For example, let’s say that you are considering expanding to a new country. There are a lot of reasons that might not work! For example:
It will require costly up-front investment that you might not recoup.
International tax can eliminate margins due to double taxation.
Language and translation issues might require significant product changes.
Local employment laws can make hiring and managing a team very expensive.
In fact, that list can be dozens and dozens of items long. Just listing them out will take forever, and trying to respond to each would take even longer. You could spend an entire year just dealing with the potential, perceived problems.
Or, you can look at the reasons it might work. For example:
The new country might represent a large enough market to double our business.
Maybe the market is similar enough to places we already operate that we’ll enjoy economies of scale.
If our competition is not prepared to expand, it can become a significant competitive advantage.
If any one of these reasons is strong enough, with enough data to back it up, it might be reason enough to act. In fact, just one of these opportunities could be enough to significantly expand the business in the future! These kinds of bets are what make up the company strategy (See Making Big Bets).
So, the next time someone tries to shoot down a new idea with reasons it might not work, stop the conversation. Look them in the eye and ask: “But can it work? And if it can, why?”
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