How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
by Scott Adams
This is the story and advice of Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert Comics. Adams shares his own experiences and what you can do to increase your chances of making it big.
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
This entire book describes how to invite failure into your life, embrace it, and then using that failure to your advantage.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
This book connected with this class in its entirety. Entrepreneurship entails a lot of risk taking, and with risk taking comes a lot of failure. Furthermore, your success is often dependent on your perspective. If your startup isn't going the way you planned, you can accept defeat or you can use the failure as a learning opportunity and create something even greater. That is what this whole book is about.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
Its funny because we actually do have an assignment about failure this week. However, if I were to create an assignment based off of this book, I would have the student list out a variety of potential reasons their business could fail. For each failure possibility, I would have them strategist how they could turn that failure around and use it to their advantage. That is what Scott Adams describes doing in his book. Finally, they would state what types of things they could learn from failure. This is a good opportunity for students to come to terms with he fact that their original plan may not succeed, but they can actually benefit from it!
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?
I was most surprised that Adams did not hold back at all. I though this would be a lovely self-help style book about how not to let failure get you down. But Adams really exceeded this expectation and brought light to failure. He really detailed his most embarrassing failures, and then detailed his personal strategies for overcoming them. It made me feel less ashamed of my failures.
I also love the tip that he gave that you should NEVER expect people to act reasonably. That will also get you in trouble when you rely on people's rationality.
Hi Holly! Great job on your reading reflection number three! This is the book I read for my reading assignment number two! It is very important to remember that failing is apart of the game (as we learned in our last assignment). I'm glad you learned and took so much away from reading this book. It had a lot of lessons to teach us, and indeed it was a great read!
ReplyDeleteHi Holly,
ReplyDeleteIm glad you enjoyed the book! I really liked reading your post and how you interpreted the authors words. I like how he advised his readers to never trust people to act reasonably, that is an interesting and helpful tip.
Hi Holly,
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned that Adams owned his failure, even if it was embarrassing. I think there is a false perception that anyone who made it big possesses some innate, special qualities that make them avoid any real setbacks. I'm sure what the successful have in common is not their individual knowledge but their willingness to continue to pursue their dream. I'm glad you enjoyed the book.
Karla
Holly,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the reading reflection for this book. I chose this book for Reading Reflection No. 2 and I really enjoyed the simple yet broadly useful messages that Adams portrayed through his stories. I agree with about how failure is very involved in entrepreneurship and I can't think of an entrepreneurial situation without failure. Glad someone else enjoyed this book like I did.
Hey Holly,
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that Adams really described his failures in depth gives the book much more credibility and we know that he still succeeded in the end. I liked your idea for the assignment and I think it would be really helpful to make us all confront the likelihood of failure and plan what we would do if a certain aspect were to fail. Great job!
Hey Holly!
ReplyDeleteI personally think that this book is a must read because like you said as an entrepreneur it is likely to face a lot of failures along the way. It is important to step back and see these failures in a perspective. Many times they will result in lessons that will help your business be successful in the future.
Hi there Holly,
ReplyDeleteI had actually looked into this book before this class, so I was very excited to see that it was a book we could all read. The message seems to really fit in with the overall message of the course and you seem to get that in your post. I enjoy this because you seem to relate everything back to what we have learned this semester. We must realize that risk-taking is the name of the business and you seem to get at that.