What are you failing at?

How to learn continuously

Author

Brian Bourque
July 13, 2024

Hello to every unicorn in the galaxy.

I haven’t written in a while.

Here are some links to remind you of what I write about and why you subscribed:

Last night instead of writing this newsletter I was finishing a complex analysis that had my head in knots.

The gist of it was that I had made a flawed assumption that went unchallenged for three months.

So when I unraveled the math behind the assumption, I had to explain to the CEO why my math was wrong.

The good news is that, in untangling the math, I discovered an issue that we hadn’t been aware of.

Ironically, the natural tendency when we make a mistake is to bury it, excuse it, or deny it.

But I’m fortunate enough to work with people who seek to understand and improve.

Through that lens, “mistakes” are invaluable.

This reminded me of a quote I uncovered recently from Charles Koch about continuous learning:

"If you're learning you've got to be experimenting. If you're experimenting you're having failures. If you think you're experimenting and you never have failures, you're not experimenting. And if we don't, we're doomed to failure."

Charles Koch

I haven’t written this newsletter in a while because I’ve been experimenting with life:

  • Parenting as a newly divorced dad

  • Leading marketing for a “startup” 9 years later and still uncovering new insights

  • Using python & LLMs to analyze the greatest business minds of our time

  • Meditating and playing piano

While these may seem like very different activities, what they have in common is that the only way to get better is to do them and then do them less badly.

So wherever you are in your startup journey, speed up your time to failure by heading directly at what you are afraid of.

Btw if you want to read a summary of the principles behind how the Koch brothers built the most profitable private company in the US, click here.

Now that I’m settled into a new routine, my plan is to resume writing this newsletter.

The goal of this newsletter remains:

To help you grow your business.

Please answer the poll below so I can continue to do that:

What are you failing at?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

7 Ways to Learn Continuously

  1. Start working on a stretch goal

  2. Read a book by someone you admire

  3. Take a free online course

  4. Network with peers and experts

  5. Talk to your customers

  6. Challenge your assumptions

  7. Teach someone something

PS - I’d love to hear about your specific marketing or business growth problem. Respond to this email and let me know what’s holding you back.

See you soon.

Brian