Chutes and Ladders – A Primer for Entrepreneurism?

Credit: Rodney Miller, Wood Innovations

I have been a student of Dan Sullivan and his Strategic Coach program for more than seven years now. I always look forward to my quarterly sessions because I always get at least one fabulous “Ah Ha” moment every time my group meets.

At my last class my coach was setting up the days agenda and related the story of playing with Chutes and Ladders with his grandson. He was reflecting on the happiness he got from watching his grandson gain so much joy from playing the game. The teachable moment for him, was the way his grandson reacted to landing on a chute that took him almost all the way back down to the start of the board.

It was a lesson on looking at the event as an opportunity versus failure. When he inquired as to why that act made him so excited, his grandson replied, “Because then I am only four places away from the ladder that will take me almost all the way to the top!”

Wow! Isn’t that a great perspective? Where in our childhood experiences do we lose that viewpoint? As a manufacturer, I see the fear of failure stifle our innovation on a regular basis. Our VP of Engineering, Ali Jabbari has a piece of paper taped up in his office window stating:

Try again
Fail again
Fail better!
Fail faster

The problem is getting the team to truly believe that it is OK to fail, and that it's actually an important part of the innovation process. Solving this challenge takes more than just posting this quote for all to see.

One thing I think all entrepreneurs have in common is that they don’t get discouraged by slipping down that chute. Like my coaches’ grandson they don’t perceive it as failure. They see it as a teachable moment and that they have the opportunity of being only four spaces away from success. They also don’t see failure as a zero sum game. Like in the game of Chutes and Ladders, even if you go down a chute, you are never taken back to the start of the game; even with failure you have still made progress.

What “chute” has actually gotten you closer to your “ladder” of success? I’d love to hear your stories. I truly believe the more we see these chutes as strategic byproducts that end up getting us to our ultimate success, we will reach company growth and innovation much faster.

It’s a Great Time to be a Female Entrepreneur!

BWC President Pamela Kan

As most of you know I am a second generation family member running Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation. My father, Bud Wisecarver, started the business decades ago. I began work here on April 1, 1991. That’s no joke — I thought it would be a temporary job but the business got into my blood and I stayed on. I became the president in May of 2000 and then I became the majority owner at the end of 2009.

Becoming a majority owner set me on my quest of becoming a WBENC certified woman owned business. This was more of an endeavor than I realized. Having more than 60 years of company history made the application process quite daunting. At times I was honestly pretty frustrated. But in the end, the process means you receive a certification that is vetted and respected.

Unfortunately I received certification just after the annual WBENC meeting last year. So I was very excited to be able to attend this year’s conference. It was held just a few weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. Anytime you put thousands of women in the same ballroom it is bound to be a good time — and it was!

Thank goodness for the first-timers orientation programs. I went to them all and I started to really see the potential and opportunities that certification provides. Selling into the supplier diversity channel is a whole other world — language, protocols and paperwork. But it is worth learning, because the opportunities to tap into the supply chain for these major corporations and government entities are extremely exciting.

The business fair was really a great experience. I got really good at pitching my company. My hat off to sales people. That is hard to do all day long! Working this channel as a manufacturer was really rewarding. There just are not a lot of us, and even fewer who are certified. I was very popular with the corporate partners in attendance. I strongly recommend that women in the manufacturing and technology sectors look at the benefits of becoming WBENC certified.

From my point of view, there is nothing but up-side potential just waiting to be tapped.