Has your business made a monumental mistake that just happened to turn into an unexpected success?
In no case is this situation more evident than when 3M invented the Post-it. At first, they didn’t know what to do with the slightly adhesive substance they had created, until the little yellow squares of paper seemed to be the perfect fit. Post-its then ended up becoming one of the best products 3M ever created.
A new book, Brilliant Mistakes: Finding Success on the Far Side of Failure by Paul J.H. Shoemaker, spotlights this topic and is hosting a nice little contest to parallel the theories in the book.
Here are the details:
- Describe your business mistake in 300 words or less
- What led to the mistake?
- How did it happen?
- What did you learn?
- Did it change your company?
You are eligible to win two round-trip tickets on Southwest, a Wharton Executive Education course (the publisher), a copy of the book, business-conference tickets to the Wharton Mack Center for Technological Innovation and other extras.
The contest closes on February 1 so get your entries ready soon and submit them here.
Leave us a comment below with a short summary of your business mistakes that have led to unexpected successes!