Make Space to Fail

“Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment…”
— Jeff Bezos

The 2002 documentary, Comedian, is a visceral taste of the perils of the creative process. It follows Jerry Seinfeld, who, having conquered the world of comedy with his eponymous sitcom, decided to start over in comedy. He got rid of all the jokes he ever told, and re-started from scratch, doing stand-up bits at small comedy clubs every night, in the hopes of developing enough material for a brand new television special.

It’s brutal.

In a particularly illuminating scene, he’s trying out new material at the Gotham Comedy Club when he suddenly loses the train of thought, smack in the middle of the routine. He plainly confesses, “What was it about??? I didn’t even want to say what I just said… that’s the ugly part!”

Sensing desperation — and not particularly amused by what was certainly not a fully-developed routine — a heckler went in for the kill: “Is this your first gig??” she shouted from a table just stage left.

Seinfeld’s response says it all.

He looks right at her, and admits shamelessly, “This is how comedians develop material…” and after a pause, he added, “and as you can see, it’s quite painful.”

No one — not even a legend like Seinfeld — is immune to the brutal reality of the early creative process. Gravity affects cannon balls and grains of sand alike. But here’s the thing: innovators know what they want — a truly spectacular, breakthrough outcome — and they know that the only way to refine the breakthrough-in-the-rough is to submit it to the cold light of day, and to the brutal process of getting feedback, long before it feels “ready for prime time.”

The sad irony is, folks who aren’t willing to be endure the embarrassments that naturally accompany the innovation process rarely arrive at the proud moment of the breakthrough. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there. As Reid Hoffman famously said, “If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.”

That might sound risky, but it’s not. In reality, not experimenting is actually the riskier path, even for a market leader.

Case in point, even within the sphere of comedy: Steve Martin.

He was by most accounts the most popular comedian of the day, if not all time, when he abandoned the post. What caused the downfall of his stand-up routine?

"This was no longer an experiment; I felt a huge responsibility not to let people down. Arenas of twenty thousand and three-day gigs of forty-five thousand were no place to try out new material. I dabbled with changes, introducing a small addition or mutation here and there, but they were swallowed up by the echoing, cavernous venues...

Though the audiences continued to grow, I experienced a concomitant depression caused by exhaustion, isolation, and creative ennui." (from his memoir, Born Standing Up)

Many comedians have learned from Martin's now-famous burnout, and have designed ways to experiment in low-cost ways to keep their material fresh, and to fill their own creative tanks. But sadly, many businesses have not.

An inability to experiment haunts far too many professionals in far too many organizations. Can’t fail here leads to the same creative ennui that stifled Steve Martin. The desire to not disappoint overrides the need to try something new.

For Martin, the affliction set in while the audiences were growing. The time for corporate leaders to attend to experimentation is when business is booming.

Where's your space to experiment? Where’s your space to fail — and learn, and improve — safely?

Related: Share Before You Feel Ready
Related: Dealing With Embarrassment In The Creative Process

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