The Failure-Dichotomy Principle

Just between you and me (and anyone who stumbles across this blog), I have a thing for Donny Deutsch. I love his talk show (and not just because he picked a great theme song) and think he is a brilliant marketer/creative genius. So when I was browsing through the bookstore, my heart skipped a beat when I saw him on the cover of Often Wrong, Never in Doubt. Not only is he an advertising guru, the host of his own talk show, and not bad to look at, but he also wrote a book. Lucky me!

I'm only 60-something pages in, but I really like it so far, and thought I would pass on his "Failure-Dichotomy Principle".

Creativity is about freedom. In order for people to be free to create, they need to feel free to fail... You need to be free to unload your mind, to have the opportunity to put every idea on the table, no matter how far-fetched or unusual or downright weird. To free up the unconscious while inoculating oneself against ridicule, we have a ritual we call "Shards of Glass." It's a set of words, a preemptive strike against yourself. "This may be a really bad idea, and if it is, throw shards of glass at me..." It gives people a safety net so they can sail off into the unknown.

At the same time, you need a culture in which failure is not an option... We all, as human beings, have a depth gauge within ourselves and at some point we decide that the game, the championship, the job, our soul, is on the line. At that point you simply can't allow yourself to fail.

I really like the idea of embracing failure for the sake of creativity, yet instilling a mindset that you're capable of anything. Do you allow yourself the freedom to fail?

sidebar: I'm sure I'll come across something else I'll want to share from Donny, so I'm reserving the right to revisit this book!