Why the Best Business Ideas Often Start as ‘Mistakes’

The fear of failure can inhibit progress, yet history shows many examples where mistakes became the stepping stones to groundbreaking innovation. Shifting our perspective from viewing mistakes as terminal setbacks to valuable learning opportunities is crucial for fostering a culture of innovation.

Here, I take you through innovative business ideas and how they initially arose from mistakes.

Case study: Rubber ducks and plastic waste

In January 1992 a container with 29,000 plastic bath toys was washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean. The toys were manufactured in China and were on route to the USA. Unlike many bath toys, these had no holes in them, so they did not take on water. At some stage the container broke open and the toys were released. Another ecological calamity!

An oceanographer based in Seattle, Curtis Ebbesmeyer, learnt of this event and saw it as a singular opportunity to study ocean currents. He and his partner, James Ingraham, set out to track the toys. A typical oceanographic study would release 500 to 1000 drift bottles of which only 2% might be returned.  So, a sample of 29000 items represented a significantly bigger and more accurate experiment.  Ebbesmeyer alerted beachcombers, marine scientists and coastal workers to be on the lookout for the distinctive toys.  Sure enough, ten months after the consignment was lost at sea the first rubber ducks washed up in Alaska. Over the next 20 years the toys turned up in all sorts of places. Some washed up in British Columbia and Hawaii; many others circumnavigated the globe.

The study of where and when the ducks made landfall helped increase understanding of ocean currents. The work of Ebbesmeyer and Ingraham helped us understand how flotsam moves around the world’s oceans and thus can assist in tackling the problem of plastic waste.

Every calamity leads to new possibilities.

When things go wrong then the pieces on the board are disturbed. Possibilities arise and disasters can open the door for innovations. It just needs a little lateral thinking.

Case study: Laminated safety glass

In 1903, French chemist Édouard Bénédictus accidentally dropped a glass flask coated with cellulose nitrate. To his surprise, the glass cracked but didn’t shatter. The inner coating held the shards together. Recognizing its potential, Bénédictus developed laminated safety glass by sandwiching a plastic layer between two sheets of glass. Initially used in gas masks during World War I, it later became standard in car windshields and building materials. This accidental discovery significantly improved safety in transportation and architecture, preventing countless injuries from shattered glass. A simple lab mishap led to a life-saving innovation.

Every mishap, mistake and failure tells us something new

Sometimes we can harness this lesson into an unexpected solution.

Case study: Bubble wrap packaging

In 1957 Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes tried to create a fashionable new form of insulated wall covering by sealing together two shower curtains. The trapped air bubbles made bad wallpaper. It was a flop nobody wanted. They tried selling it as greenhouse insulation, it failed again. Then IBM needed something to protect their new computers during shipping. The computers were expensive and fragile. A new form of packaging was needed to protect them.

Fielding and Chavannes started a company, Sealed Air Corporation. It promoted their new product, which they called bubble wrap, and IBM was one of their first customers. Packaging companies quickly embraced the new technology. Bubble wrap became a huge success.

Here are some tools to transform mistakes into advantages:

1. Start with a growth mindset

Cultivating a growth mindset, as popularized by Carol Dweck, involves believing that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. When failures occur, focus on the lessons learned rather than dwelling on the perceived mistakes. Ask: "What can I learn from this?" rather than "Why did this happen to me?"

James Dyson developed over 5000 vacuum cleaner prototypes, most of which failed. This led ultimately to the creation of his revolutionary bagless vacuum cleaner. He viewed each failure as input in a learning process. He refined his design with each iteration.

2. After a failure, conduct a thorough post-mortem

Undertake a business analysis to identify the root causes of the failure. This involves open and honest discussions to pinpoint what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future. Then document the findings and share them across the organization.

The best example of post-mortem analysis is the aviation industry's rigorous post-crash investigations. They have drastically improved air safety. Each air crash is thoroughly investigated and the results are shared with authorities, airlines and manufacturers to improve safety. Every incident yields valuable data that leads to design improvements and procedural changes.

3. Encourage open communication and transparency

Create an environment where employees feel comfortable taking calculated risks and sharing their failures without fear of reprisal.

Google's ‘Project Aristotle’ was a research initiative conducted by Google to determine what makes teams effective. The project's findings significantly impacted how companies understand and approach teamwork. They found that psychological safety was the most crucial factor. Teams with high psychological safety are more likely to learn from their mistakes. They experiment, innovate, collaborate and perform well.

Slack started as a gaming company called Tiny Speck. When their game failed to gain traction, they realized the internal communication tool they had developed was far more valuable. They pivoted and Slack became a billion-dollar company.

4. Create a system for documenting and sharing lessons learned from failures

This knowledge base can prevent future mistakes and foster a culture of continuous improvement. NASA's extensive documentation of past missions, including failures like the Apollo 13 incident, serves as a valuable resource for future space exploration endeavours. These documents and learnings are used to prevent similar errors.

By adopting these strategies, organizations can transform failures from roadblocks into springboards for innovation, driving progress and creating a culture of continuous learning.

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