Tag Archives: Thought leader

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How could we maintain confidence after repeated failure?

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Seth Godin gave a speech on the topic of innovation strategy in low growth economy at the Dong-A Business Forum 2015. I was invited to moderate his speech in December, 2015.

Seth Godin is an Author, Entrepreneur and Most of All, A teacher. Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn). His book, This is Marketing, was an instant bestseller in countries around the world. The latest book is The Practice, and creatives everywhere have made it a bestseller. Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!). By focusing on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything, Seth has been able to motivate and inspire countless people around the world.

In our conversation, he asked us to be artists and be hubris. In his words, artists are the people who challenge conventional rules with brevity, insights, and determination. Only those who fail constatntly will become artists.

He made it clear that mass production, mass distribution, and mass marketing do not work any more. In the past, average products appealed. However, only ultimate products or “art” appeal in the new, connected world.

While emphasizing the value of constant failures, he separated ready from preparedness. Ready means that people are ready to embrace failure. Since many Koreans are not ready but prepared to be perfect, he suggested them to be Salto Mortale, a desperate jump translated into Italian.

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What do we need in the Post-Covid Era?

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Professor Steve Blank gave a speech on the topic of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Dong-A Business Forum 2021. I was invited to moderate his speech in December, 2021.

Steve is a serial startup founder and entrepreneur educator. He founded 8 startups in 1980s and then developed the concept of Customer Development. In 2011, Steve designed a class of Lean LaunchPad by combining his Customer Development with Agile Engineering and Business Model Canvas. His Customer Development is known to inspire Eric Ries and the basis of Lean Startup. His curriculum has been adopted by multiple universities and NSF Innovation Corps, in particular, the departments of defense and diplomacy. Steve is currently working as a researcher and teacher at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Coumbia University.

In our conversation, he mentioned that “Don’t just come up with a business plan in your head.” Instead “go to the field, meet customers in person, and verify hypothesis quickly.” This is a so-called Lean Startup. He advised large corporations in Korea to “separate the teams who implement existing business models and the teams who are free to experiment with innovation.”

While he stressed Voice Of Customers (VOC), he highlighted pivot particularly in the post-COVID era. “If you meet a piece of information which tells you that the concept is wrong, you need to revise your business model quickly. In the 20th century, doing so was impossible. However, doing so saves money and time now. It prevents you from going to the wrong direction.”

He claimed that pivot is more than a methodology. “A culture where everyone including executives can openly communicate about what went wrong with the initial plan. No business plan can survive if it is reprimanded for pointing out something is wrong. So I think pivot is a cultural issue not a methodological one.”