Reading Reflection # 2

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The book I read is How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. The theme of the book is about not giving up and recognizing when you fail you should be able to take a positive away from it. Scott Adams gives several examples of different jobs and scenarios that he failed at throughout his life. However, through each experience he took something away from it. The ideas that he took away from his failures allowed him to improve and not make the same mistake in the future. One example was the first time he had interviewed for a job near the end of college. He showed up wearing what a typical college student would wear around campus. His interview never took place due to his appearance. This taught him to dress professionally in the future. The book is full of these type of examples and he talks about what he learned from each failure and how it helped him improve.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This class has been about experience. We have been asked to interview customers and receive feedback from strangers about ideas we have. Some people have had to experience failure in their delivery or concept. Through this they have either improved their idea or realized it wasn't a good one and moved on. So the experiences that are shared within this book about failing and learning from it I think tie in perfectly.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I think sending students out with bad business ideas to do customer interviews may be a good experience. It would be designed for them to get negative feedback from customers on the idea. However, if they use the "failure" like Scott Adams did and learn from it maybe their idea can be tweaked into a great one. 

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?

My 'aha' moment came with you realize the book is not about funny stories regarding the failures he experienced. I typically view failure as just that and associate it with negativity. However, after reading this book I try to be more introspective on my failures. I think if you try enough things you will eventually fail, so I now look at what I can do different next time. For example, I am in outside sales. So at work if I have a bad sales call I label it a failure and review what went wrong or what could have been done differently so I don't make the same mistake again.