The Experimental Mindset

Stopping doesn’t mean failing, and closing a business doesn’t mean you failed.

After working with entrepreneurs who have started and closed companies, and also closing my own meditation app recently, I view the entrepreneurship and leadership journey differently. As an entrepreneur, you have successfully done your job if you run deliberate tests in every department, pivot based on feedback, assess risk, and make educated bets about where your industry is headed. If the conclusion of those tests is that the project should stop, it isn’t a failure. It’s a result.

The Tolerance to Test

Beta testing, tweaking, and iterating are accepted in product design, R&D, and scientific discovery, but that grace rarely spreads across the entire company. And seldom does it extend to entrepreneurs running non-tech companies.

Marketing departments aren’t given enough space to experiment with brand positioning, nor are sourcing departments encouraged to test new processes that improve their supply chain. Innovation has to go beyond technology, and experimentation needs to be encouraged across the board.

‘Failure’ needs Repositioning

When you view your project or business as an experiment, the often self-inflicted pressure is lifted, and it leads to greater innovation, higher risks, and higher rewards; monetary or otherwise. This onus falls on leaders.

I admit that having this mindset is a luxury but it also requires courage, determination to give your idea your all, and admitting you don’t know everything and have all the answers, but you are willing to find out. The best venture builders are curious kids who just have to know all the answers.

Guardrails are Important

The big caveat here is the spreading of that risk. If you’re starting a business without any experience in the field, don’t put your entire life savings into it. Or when you’re establishing a marketing budget for the year, leave 80% for tried and tested channels and 20% to the new.

Encourage your team to try new things. Encourage yourself to question your reasons to push back. Keep experimenting consistently so it fundamentally becomes a part of your company’s DNA.

Curiosity encourages movement, and movement builds momentum. And sometimes this momentum tells us when it is time to stop. When that happens, don’t package it as a failure, but a conclusion. As a logical win.

How are you encouraging experimentation in your company or on your team? I would love to know.

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