The Andre Dawson Effect

Andre Dawson began his professional baseball career as the 1977 Rookie of the year. His 21 year career includes a ten year stretch in Montreal as part of the Expo franchise. He was an 8 time National League All Star, he won 8 Golden Glove awards for fielding excellence and his 438 home runs and 962 extra base hits put him in the top ten of National League players of all time. With a .279 career batting average, Andre earn a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But consider this; the success of his .279 batting average reveals that very nearly three out of four times Andre stepped up to the plate, he struck out. Name for me another career where you could fail three out of four times and be considered one of the greatest of all times. Context matters.

The reality of the startup technology space is that failure is a very real possibility. Not every new company will result in a successful long term business. Many (most) will fail. But entrepreneurs still step up to the plate, like Andre, and swing away looking for that home run that will win the game.

Two lessons strike me in considering the story of Andre Dawson. The first is that we have to become tolerant, even jubilant, in the face of failure. The prospect of failure is one of the potential outcomes of having tried. Success only becomes possible in the attempt. Unless you step up to the plate, no one has the chance to become a success. When Andre struck out, he knew that the rotation would bring another change at bat. In baseball no one expects any player to bat one-thousand, or even five-hundred. Startups are no different.

The second lesson comes from a sales seminar I attended years ago. Fail often, but fail small. The key to successive “at bat” attempts is that you don’t hurt yourself irreparably in the process. Every “at-bat” gives you more experience and increased insight, so that the next time you are prepared and a little better equipped to swing for the fence.