In 2009 a book called The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough was published in Spanish. In several interviews he gave to the media, the author was asked what steps he would recommend for an entrepreneur to succeed in business.
See also: Why small businesses fail at the start
Keough replied, with irony, that he had no idea what you should do to succeed, but he knew perfectly well what you should do to make failure certain. So the book set out a series of reverse commandments of success, which would lead us, without a doubt, to one final destination: the ruin and failure of a business.
Building on a very sound principle, the author argues that companies don’t fail because they adopt the wrong strategies. The real failure lies with the people who lead them. So if your goal is to fail as an entrepreneur and sink your business, here are 10 commandments that will get you there without fail. Just apply one or more of these points carefully and diligently. For the opposite, see the Chinese ten commandments of business.
The 10 commandments for failing in business
1. Don’t take risks
Many companies stopped taking risks. Risk frightened them, so those companies ended up in a cemetery under a headstone that read: “Here lies a company that died risk-free.” If you want to fail, remember… never take risks.
2. Be inflexible
When conditions in your favour change, when people tell you that you have carried out a bad strategy, stand firm, be completely inflexible, and that way, and only that way, you will fail.
3. Isolate yourself
The biggest business failures go hand in hand with an entrepreneur’s isolation. By isolating yourself, not only will you fail to know what you don’t know about the business, you will also be completely confident that the little you do know is absolutely true and correct.
4. Feel infallible
In a high percentage of the companies that failed, there were executives who felt infallible before the collapse. “You don’t know anything about this,” “I know more about this than you do,” and, of course, they wasted the chance to learn from other people who could have contributed something. If you want to fail, feel infallible at all times; after all, it’s usually true that others can never teach us anything.
5. Operate close to the edge of the law
This commandment rarely fails: if something can be done illegally, why do it legally? In the book, Keough compared some executives to rock stars and took a hard look at the financial executives behind the current crisis, who began by replacing the question “Is what we’re doing legal?” with “Is it right?” and ended up asking “Do you think we’ll get caught?” So cross the line of legality to make sure you reach your goal.
6. Don’t stop to think
To fail, you must make decisions as they come into your head. Thinking is only for people who want to succeed, and stopping to analyse a situation or a decision we have in mind is a waste of time if we want to fail. Thinking is one of the best assets a company has; never use it, or you might not fail.
See also: 15 commandments for entrepreneurs who want to succeed in business
7. Put blind faith in experts and outside consultants
The truth is that companies often need experts and outside consultants when they enter new markets or consider new growth opportunities. What the author means by blind faith is not taking part in analysing the situation yourself.
He reminds us that experts make mistakes too; if you don’t believe it, ask the “expert stock market analysts.” To fail, hire an expert and let them run the company. Naturally, the more freedom and decision-making power you give the expert, the sooner you will reach your goal of failure.
8. Love bureaucracy
As with commandment number 7, a little bureaucracy is good, but too much can suffocate us. If you want to block your company’s real progress, always put administrative matters ahead of everything else and love bureaucracy.
9. Be ambiguous
Being ambiguous and having no clearly defined plan or strategies takes us into a grey area where nothing is clear, and this lack of clear premises will speed us towards our goal. Remember: clearly defining goals, objectives and plans is only for winners.
10. Be afraid of the future
There is no surer guarantee of failure than fearing the future, because that fear assumes the future will be a failure, and so we become paralysed. Fear is good for failing, but if you add a dose of pessimism to make sure it paralyses you, congratulations: you’re almost there.
11. A bonus commandment: lose your passion for work and for life
If you’d rather not bother with any of the other 10 commandments, the author offered a bonus number 11, because this single requirement is enough to guarantee failure. In his words, he had never met a successful person who did not feel passion for what they did and who did not also do it with love.
Passion and enthusiasm for what we do usually lead us to success, so never have them if you want to fail. Work on things you don’t care about and lead a life you don’t feel comfortable with. That’s the only way you’ll manage it.
Further reading
- The main causes of failure in life and in business
- Donald Trump: the mindset of an entrepreneur
- Wanting, knowing and being able: that is where success begins
Featured image: Boarded-up shopfront, Clarence Street, Pontypool by Jaggery, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
