The Pudding Palace never made a ripple on the business scene. Poof! It appeared. Poof! It vanished.
But, there it was, for a glorious moment in time, a store dedicated to pudding! Paper bowls, plastic spoons and all. I can still see the handmade sign and metal folding chairs.
Florescent lighting and bare walls gave the Pudding Palace the feel of a prison cafeteria. It didn’t help that two stores down, one of the mall’s largest stores actually looked like a palace, comparatively speaking.
The Pudding Palace, I kid you not, was someone’s revolutionary idea. I don’t want to offend pudding lovers. But, who came up with the idea of putting the word pudding next to the word palace!
4 reasons The Pudding Palace failed:
- Small or no problem. The Pudding Palace didn’t meet a felt need. Great ideas seduce people into sharing solutions that don’t have problems. A solution without a problem is dangerous.
- Personal attachment destroys objectivity. It doesn’t matter how much you love your idea if no one else does. The glory of pudding blinded someone.
- Poor execution. The Pudding Palace didn’t look like a palace.
- Internal conversations. I guarantee the Pudding Palace owners only talked with friends, family, and pudding lovers. They never discussed their idea with a successful business person or potential customers.
5 more reasons great ideas fail:
- Fear of losing what you have. Great ideas often require letting go of worn-out ideas. Organizations can’t innovate and stay the same.
- Perfectionism. Execute imperfect ideas. Improve as you go. (Pudding Palace not withstanding)
- No Champion. Never give a great idea to a talented unbeliever.
- Lack of alliances.
- Too much too soon. Execute great ideas is small ways. Don’t worry about developing a program until you’ve put your idea into practice.
Why do great ideas fail?