Innovate Boldly
“Innovators understand that their job is to fail, repeatedly, until they don’t.”
— Blogger Seth Godin
“Be bold.” — ISU President Steven Leath
In a recent blog post Seth Godin said that nonprofits are obliged to innovate, but often hesitate. They feel caught in a double bind: their funders want them to be cautious, but also daring. Their work is too important to risk failure or to play it safe. So what’s an organization to do?
In Extension and Outreach, we’re lucky, because President Leath has given us permission to break out of this conundrum. He says we can be bold. In his video message during annual conference, President Leath said, “We rely on you – your expertise and your contacts – to identify and develop bold new partnership ventures that will help us better serve the people of Iowa.”
He also said, “I want others to come to us expecting to partner, and us to be willing to look at any and all possibilities as long as they maintain the integrity of our academic enterprise.”
That sounds like an open call for innovation. So try. Try again. Be bold. See you there.
– Cathann
Last Friday Region 20 partnered with the Great River Region to hold a Local Foods Networking event in Mediapolis. Our luncheon speaker was Don Macke of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Part of his message was that rural areas must learn to accept failure in small towns (where failure often means thinking you have to move out of town) and celebrate success (where successful folks hide their convertibles in rented garages 50 miles away).
So yes, we must be bold and innovate — and then we must accept failure if that is what happens and try again – instead of move!- and celebrate success if we have it — and take a spin in that sportscar! Extension and Outreach needs to be part of making entrepreneurial, innovative, venturous efforts, which include success and failure, the norm in Iowa.