How Failure Breeds Success

Everyone fears failure. But breakthroughs depend on it. The best companies embrace their mistakes and learn from them 


Ever heard of Choglit? How about OK Soda or Surge? Long after "New Coke" became nearly synonymous with innovation failure, these products joined Coca-Cola Co.'s (KO ) graveyard of beverage busts.

Choglit, in case you blinked and missed it, was a chocolate-flavored milk drink test-marketed with Nestlé (NSRGY ) in 2002. OK Soda, unveiled in 1994, tried to capture Generation X with edgy marketing. The "OK Manifesto," parts of which were printed on cans in an attempt at hipster irony, asked: "What's the point of OK Soda?" It turned out customers wondered the same thing. And while Surge did well initially, this me-too Mountain Dew later did anything but. Sales began drying up after five years.

Given that history, failure hardly seems like a subject Chairman and CEO E. Neville Isdell would want to trot out in front of investors. But Isdell did just that, deliberately airing the topic at Coke's annual meeting in April. "You will see some failures," he told the crowd. "As we take more risks, this is something we must accept as part of the regeneration process."

Warning Coke investors that the company might experience some flops is a little like warning Atlantans they might experience afternoon thunderstorms in July. But Isdell thinks it's vital. He wants Coke to take bigger risks, and to do that, he knows he needs to convince employees and shareholders that he will tolerate the failures that will inevitably result. That's the only way to change Coke's traditionally risk-averse culture. And given the importance of this goal, there's no podium too big for sending the signal. "Using [the annual meeting] occasion elevates the statement to another order of importance," Isdell said in an interview with BusinessWeek.


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How Failure Breeds Success

Failures and Success

By Chris Brogan


One of the benefits of talking to college students is that you get a chance to see a different point of view and you get to see how far you’ve come from that point in you life. I recently heard this as a favorite quote from a student: “what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail.”


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Failures and Success

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50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First | Online College Tips – Online Colleges

Not everyone who's on top today got there with success after success. More often than not, those who history best remembers were faced with numerous obstacles that forced them to work harder and show more determination than others. Next time you're feeling down about your failures in college or in a career, keep these fifty famous people in mind and remind yourself that sometimes failure is just the first step towards success.


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50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First | Online College Tips – Online Colleges

5 Secrets for Turning Failure Into Success

What if, starting today, the word 'no' didn't stop you anymore?

What if every time you heard the word no, you became stronger, more powerful, and more resilient?

What if the greatest success strategy in the world was not to go for yes, but to go for no?

Well, it is.

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