Kelly’s theorem tells us that failure is not terrible, but the terrible thing is being unable to extricate yourself from failure. Tolerance for failure is an extremely positive thing that people can learn and apply.
Keeley's theorem means that if everyone wants to achieve amazing results, they must have a positive attitude that is calm and comfortable in the face of failure, and must not run away when encountering setbacks. Otherwise, you will never succeed. Tolerance for failure is an extremely positive thing that people can learn and apply.
The story of Keeley’s theorem
Ryoji Okucheng
There was a child who once saw a staring frog in the field, and he naughtily asked The frog's eyelids peed. But he found that instead of closing the frog's eyelids, he kept staring at him with his eyes open. This made a deep impression on him. When he grew up, he became a salesman. When he was rejected by a client, he often thought of the frog in his childhood that would not close its eyes even after being doused with urine.
So we use the "frog rule" to treat sales. The customer's rejection is like urine on the eyelids of a frog. You must accept it, open your eyes to the customer and listen, and don't panic. The salesman later won the title of Japan's car sales champion for 16 consecutive years. He is Okuchi Ryouji.
Jack Welch
In the mid-1960s, a young engineer from General Electric Company in the United States was independently responsible for the research of a new plastic. Just when the engineer was confidently preparing to do something big, something unfortunate happened: the experimental research equipment suddenly exploded, and more than 30 million US dollars of experimental equipment and the factory building were instantly reduced to ashes. Facing the messy scene after the explosion, the young engineer was on the verge of mental breakdown. He thought that his dream and history at GM were over.
He was very frustrated and nervously accepted the interview with senior officials sent by GM headquarters to investigate the accident. Unexpectedly, the first thing the senior official asked was: Did we get anything from this? The young engineer was surprised at first, and then replied: Our experiment will not work. The investigating officer said: That's good. The terrible thing is that we got nothing.
An earth-shattering "major accident" was solved in this way. This young engineer was Jack Welch, who later led General Electric to achieve rapid growth for two decades and was known as the world's number one CEO.
Facing failure calmly and tolerating failure contributed to the success of Okjo Ryoshi and Jack Welch’s subsequent life path. The same is true for a company. Some large companies in the United States have discussed not being afraid of failure as an important connotation of "entrepreneurial spirit." They believe that mistakes and failures should be allowed in order to explore new ways to improve efficiency.
Therefore, some successful entrepreneurs never use the word "failure". In their view, it's just like skiing or skating. When you fall down and get up, you learn a little bit more from it.
"Lipie" and 3M Company
The American 3M Company, founded in 1902, is a multinational company with more than 70 laboratories around the world and more than 6,500 scientific researchers. The funds invested in research and development amount to 6.5% of total sales, which is twice that of ordinary American companies. On average, two patents are obtained every day, and about 500 new products are launched every year. Achieving such results is entirely due to 3M's creation of a cultural environment that tolerates failure for employees.
The company's president, DeSimone, requires management to give employees maximum freedom to experiment with new ideas and treat "failure as a learning process" so that employees can develop their own new ideas without worries. 3M's new product "Lepi" was born in such an environment, and the whole process took 12 years.
In 1969, a researcher at the company accidentally discovered a low-viscosity chemical substance. At that time, he did not see any use for this substance, and some managers also said that they should "stop this" experiment".
It wasn’t until 1981 that another researcher thought that this adhesive could be used to make easy-to-tear paper strips, and “Leap Tie” was officially born.
This product has now become a must-have stationery, appearing in office buildings and teaching and research rooms in more than 20 colors, 56 shapes, 20 scents and other varieties. "Li Tie" has become a world-famous brand.
Most scientific and technological talents with high innovative abilities are highly creative, have broad interests, are spontaneous and unsatisfied with the status quo, and the surrounding environment has a great impact on their innovation. An important factor in the environment is tolerance of failure and encouragement of risk-taking. Only such a cultural environment can fully allow them to display their creativity and prevent negative comments from stifling innovation.
3M Company has a "15 rule", which allows employees to take 15 working hours to do research and experiment with new ideas until they succeed. At the same time, the company encourages employees to conduct scientific research activities secretly and allows them to "brew fine wine privately." Almost all of the best-selling products launched by 3M are the amateur inventions of its employees.
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is also known for encouraging risk-taking. The most rare thing about it is that it does not underestimate the "frequently defeated general". In 1975, Intel's 64K tuple electronically coupled memory development team launched a memory product that could be marketed. However, due to various reasons, its role was limited and had to be abandoned halfway.
However, Intel believes that high-tech companies sometimes make mistakes when developing new products, and this risk is inevitable. What's more, the hard work and effort of research and development will not be wasted. Some of the research results can be applied to the development of microprocessors and read-only memories. It can be regarded as something lost and something gained.
In fact, in the early days of Intel's establishment, the products it originally wanted to develop did not succeed, but related products or technologies were developed. Without this cultural environment that encourages risk-taking and allows for failure, it would be difficult to say that Intel would be as successful as it is today.