In this exercise, I'd like you to select a book from the second half of the Official ENT 3003 Reading List and report on it. This part of the list focuses on books that cover, generally, entrepreneurship, business, and learning. I'd like you to address the following in your post:
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
a. The book, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,” by Scott Adams revolves around teaching readers how to be successful through failure—almost exactly what the title reads.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
a. While we have talked about all the various ways to go about beginning a business off of a simple idea or “opportunity,” it is important to recognize that sometimes, no matter how good the idea or the resources behind it, the initial idea will not work out. Understanding how to launch yourself forward after a failure is essential not only in the business world generally but also especially within the context of entrepreneurship.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
a. I would ultimately ask them to create a business idea and plan, just like we do within this class, and about halfway through the creation of all the little details, I would give them a specific reason as to why their product or service will not work out in present conditions. Because of this initial failure, I would ask them in the next assignment to adjust their plans or possibly their pitches to accommodate the inhibiting factor.
4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
a. I really liked the point that “withholding praise is immoral.” As someone who’s “work love language” is words of affirmation, I require recognition, feedback, and praise in order to feel valued and productive. For me, this was an essential idea on how to reconstruct workplace praise and feedback into something more productive than mandatory works on a critique form. This was an idea I simply had never considered before.
Hey Campbell,
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting read. It reminds me of the quote from Thomas Edison from National Treasure when Nicholas Cage mentioned Edison's response to failing over 1,000 times in creating the lightbulb, but his response was "I didn't fail, I found over 1,000 ways how not to create the lightbulb."
Hello Campbell,
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting choice of book for this assignment. I also like the ideas you presented for a possible assignment based on this book. Giving students an opportunity to ready themselves for failure and teaching them ways to pull themselves back up and make the best of the situation could be an invaluable tool in their future.