taking risks | Unfolding Neurons

I read an interesting article a couple weeks ago about a little known guy named Ron Wayne who is actually one of the founders of Apple Computers. You can read the article for the details on his story but it was fascinating to read some of the comments from this guy who sold away his 10% Apple Stock back in 1976 for $800. That same stock would be worth about $22 billion today. Yeah, that’s what I thought, wow. But notice what the guy has to say,

“Well, I’m one of the founders of Apple Computer”
“I’m living off my Social Security and I do a modest trade in collectors’ stamps and coins”
“What can I say? You make a decision based on your understanding of the circumstances, and you live with it”
“We did get fairly chummy, had lunch together, dinner together and had conversations,” (about his relationship with Steve Jobs back then).
“What Jobs had in mind was that he and Woz [as Wozniak is sometimes called] should each have 45 percent and I would have 10 percent as mediator in any dispute that would come up,”

...This is a preview of At the focal point of history….
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One of the things I’ve observed of organizations (including the church) is that growing and accomplishing things involves taking risk. Taking risks will inevitably at some point result in failure. You can’t take risks without accepting the reality that some risk-taking results in falling short of expectations, or missing what you are aiming for.

The good news is that failure doesn’t have to mean the end of risk-taking or the end of your organization. What you do when you fail matters. Here’s four quick things I’ve noticed successful organizations do when failing.

1. Transparency in Communication

Successful organizations don’t try to hide their failures when they happen. Successful organizations will begin communicating with their participants as soon as the failure happens and keep communicating through the process of finding a solution. By being as transparent as possible it contributes to maintaining trust and forward momentum.

Failing will inevitably erode some trust in your organization but in the long run, clear communication and transparency about that failure will add trust because your participants/users know you won’t hide things and keep them informed when they go wrong. People are smart. They know that failure happens sometimes, they know that mistakes get made and nothing is perfect. They also eventually find out when you aren’t being honest or forthright about any fails.

...This is a preview of On Failure.
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