Jerry Bellune July 2, 2013

Technology giant IBM hires lots of MBAs.
One young MBA grad had a new product idea.
He talked IBM into investing $1 million to build it.
The product was not well received.
Perhaps the marketing was the problem.
But IBM lost its $1 million. End of story, Not at all.

The young man wrote a letter of resignation.
He asked to see the founder, Tom Watson.
Watson was gracious and invited him to have a seat.
The young man told Watson he was resigning.
He had cost IBM $1 million with a marketing failure.
“Son,” Watson said, “I won’t accept your resignation.”
“Why not?” the surprised young man asked.
“We just spent $1 million educating you,” he said.
“You are going to have failures. Successes, too.
“We want you to be willing to take risks.
“It’s how we innovate against our competitors.”

Jim Collins researches and writes on business.
“Good to Great” is probably his best known work.
He writes about failures and successes.
He draws lessons from both experiences.
In “How the Mighty Fall” he warns against:

1. Arrogance fueled by success.
Beware arrogance and feeling entitled to success.
You will lose sight of what created your success.
Analyze what made you successful. Practice it.

2. Greed for more and more.
This comes with pursuit of fame, power and wealth.
It causes you to compromise your values.
You lose sight of your core purpose.
You ignore those who made success possible.
You forget who you are here to serve.
You ignore what they want and need from you.
Don’t make these fatal mistakes as an entrepreneur.

Next: A personal failure story.
© 2013 Lexington Publishing Co., Inc.
Jerry Bellune and his family own and operate book, digital, newspaper andniche publishing companies in Lexington. For a complimentary copy of his “How to Sell with Compelling Stories in Advertising,” contact him at [email protected]