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Continuing some of the rough thoughts begun here in part 1 on how marketing planning will need to change given the fact that marketing itself has changed.

In technology (and I suppose engineering terms as well), there is a concept of high fault tolerance.

What this means is that when a part of the system breaks, the whole system doesn’t shut down. The Internet is a great example. One server can crash, but the Internet can still relay your messages for you.

When I think about “high fault tolerance” as it relates to marketing planning, preparation, and/or execution, I am thinking, however, of the need to tolerate failure at a high level.

You obviously don’t want losers or non-performers on your team.

You want innovators.

And, if you want innovators, you need to have a culture that allows them to experiment…and fail…without being punished for it.

I suspect that at the great research labs, like Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, of even, dare I say it, Microsoft Research, there’s a culture that is understanding of pursuit and failure.

At some point, you probably need to show progress, but your peers know that great research and innovation means a LOT of dead ends (read: failures).

The question (and I don’t have an answer, which is why I am pushing out this series of blog posts) is: how do you get your marketing department to behave in the same way?

Perhaps I am naive and idealizing how Research labs work, so maybe this is moot, but on the P&L side of the house..you are rewarded for the obvious, short-term victories. Those who don’t deliver within a quarter are labeled as “non-performers” or worse.

Yet, if we want to create a “dandelion” like marketing approach to start those forest fires, we’re going to have more failures than successes and those who help us fail faster to learn and succeed sooner, should be celebrated.

There may not be a simple answer here and it’s up to you to decide how to create this culture in your own organization.

If you want to get some great thoughts on how to do/not do Innovation, I suggest you read a bunch of Adam’s thoughts based on his experience.

Updated: part 6...feedback loops