I recently read a post on GigaOM in which Om Malik recalls some tips on entrepreneurship he once heard from Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. While the post contains several tips (I highly recommend reading the full text), the one that stuck out to me the most was this idea of errors of omission vs. errors of commission.

The point that Bezos makes with this one is that people place way too much of an emphasis on those failures that occur when they are trying to do something new and innovative (errors of commission). Yet little to no emphasis is placed on the failure to take chances when they present themselves. An entrepreneur who creates a failed venture is judged more harshly for his mistakes than an entrepreneur who, well…isn’t an entrepreneur at all because he/she failed to even set things in motion. Bezos believes that the latter is the real crime here.

“Failure is not that expensive and it’s part of work. If something fails, then you’re going to shut it down and cut your losses, Bezos said. The focus, he said should be on errors of omission. These are the chances not taken.”

This idea can definitely be expanded in its application. From early-stage entrepreneurs to small business owners all the way up to corporate CEOs, they all should really think about applying this mentality to their own companies. Leadership who backs away from innovative initiatives should be held just as, if not more accountable than leadership who took a chance and failed.

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