It’s become something of a strategy for me to jump into something, try to do it, fail, and then learn a little bit in the process. I learn more by failing than by studying something to death. But that’s not all.
I Get a Lot of Things Wrong
I get people wrong. I forget that not everyone should be taken at face value. For me, I just don’t know how to be a lot of different versions of myself. I’m me. No matter if you see me on a stage in front of thousands or say hi to me while I’m peeing in the men’s room, I’m the same guy. (Though I’m not going to shake your hand in the men’s room.) I take everyone at face value anyway, and then am willing to be wrong about them.
I get technology wrong. Sometimes, I think something is really dumb. Like putting text on photos. I thought that was dumb (said so in 2012). But emojis and gifs and text on photos is a HUGE part of how people communicate now. Whether or not you like it is immaterial. It’s what it is. I will always get some tech wrong. And other times, I’ll be right but it’ll take you 3 years to know it.
I get business wrong. I constantly bet too early on trends. I also fall into the marketer’s dilemma of thinking that of COURSE you know why this is vital. And then you forget to buy it. And I feel dumb.
I get content marketing wrong. I’ve been just posting those CBMXXX post titles for a while on this blog and was getting complaints. I felt like “screw that. Click just one and it’ll all make sense.” But. Um. I was wrong.
Wrong is Okay
I’m a fan of wrong. Because it also means that I’m learning and progressing and experimenting and that I’ll have the chance to learn from my experiments and exploration.
If my job is to help you use tech to drive better human interactions, I’m going to have to stay ahead of the curve so I can tell you where the dragons are. If I’m turning the NEXT into the NOW and giving you ways to turn insights into opportunities, that means I’ll probably have a few failures in the lab before I can give you a tried and true thing.
I’d rather be wrong than out of date. I’d rather be wrong than certain of something no one else cares about any longer.
Mistakes will happen, that’s for sure. But I’ll share the learning from those, too. And you’ll appreciate that.
Right?
