337. It is not a failure, I have not failed, do not acknowledge failure as failure~
1. What is the major failure of Snow Brand's "Sliced Cheese" that does not acknowledge failure as failure?
The saying "Failure is the stepping stone to success" is often used.
"You cannot become a respectable person if you don't fail while you are young."
"Don't fear failure, go for it," and so on—just give it your best shot.
And then, you fail just like that—.
As a result, "You idiot, what are you doing?"
"You failed?! Don't mess with me." Everyone has had an experience like this.
And one day, as you get older, you think this:
"Failure is definitely not success."
You regret, you feel remorse. You fear, you shrink away. You become unable to think or act boldly. You are always trembling, fearing failure.
It is true that the battlefield of business is not so sweet as to easily forgive failure.
Moreover, it takes considerable courage and resolve to relaunch a business or product that has failed once. What if I fail again?
How should I cover the losses? -
But if you think about things like this, you won't be able to do anything.
Running away from all such risks means there is no victory without a fight.
Here lies a common human psychology. In other words,
"Make the best effort to not repeat failure by not acknowledging it as failure"
"Reflect on the failure, regret it, and connect it to the next time"
This may seem positive at first glance, but when humans fail, are blamed, or feel responsible, they become self-suggestive as if traumatized, and a fear that they might repeat it again is born and grows.
There are also people like this.
"I have never failed."
"I make sure not to fail before I fail."
This statement also seems like a model student's, but in my case,
people like this make me feel uneasy.
Why? Because there is no one in the world who has never failed, and if there were someone who had truly never failed, there would be nothing more terrifying than that.
It is because these are the words of people who do not understand true failure or the pain in people's hearts, like the people mentioned at the beginning of this text who say "Failure is the stepping stone to success."
Even if they say "It doesn't matter if you fail—," they fly into a rage if you do fail.
This is because these are also the words of people who have hardly grasped the causes of failure or whether it was truly a failure. Furthermore, it leaves trauma on the side that was scolded.
There is also the general schema that failure = evil and success = good, and people act based solely on that schema.
However, it is a fact that there are assets gained through failure and assets lost through success.
All of these schemas are centered on short-term profit. Indeed, Japan is currently in a major recession. Short-term profit is also important. However, short-term profit also carries the risk of losing trust with people.
Then the problem of what to do and how to do it remains.
"Do not acknowledge failure as failure"
"There is no such thing as failure in the world" (I have not failed)
This is ten steps forward for success.
Not one step, but ten steps.
To feel this, to think this.
For those who have worked hard, done things with all their might, suffered, fought, had unpleasant experiences, and taken action, the definition of "failure" does not apply.
In other words, "there is only success." The important thing is only the point of why it did not succeed. By researching and devising ways to improve that, all those failures become successes.
It is said that Snow Brand Milk Products' big hit product, "Sliced Cheese," is a product that failed miserably in the past.
Few people know this story.
Cheese is very troublesome to cut.
When cutting cheese, it sticks to kitchen knives or knives, and it is very difficult to cut, so it takes time.
Then, to save the trouble of cutting, why not sell it in a box with slices from the beginning?
It was in 1962 that Snow Brand first sold sliced cheese based on such a proposal. This idea was highly evaluated both inside and outside the company, and they had absolute confidence in its sales.
This is because it is very convenient and is a hassle-free cheese that housewives would surely be happy with.
However, the result was a big failure.
Snow Brand could not hide its surprise.
This is because the number of shipments at the time, the advertising expenses for it, the equipment, and the invested capital were enormous.
So, what exactly was that big failure?
It didn't sell at all.
Also, the cause was clear.
It was because the following complaints were received from consumers.
"Even though the cheese is sliced, it sticks together immediately after some time."
"It became hard immediately."
"Even though it is sliced, it is difficult to take out and difficult to peel."
Sales were stopped on the spot.
Everyone in the company was shocked.
It was a huge loss.
It is said that for a while, due to the sheer shock, no one even spoke about "sliced cheese" within the company.
"A huge failure —."
These three characters hung over the entire Snow Brand company like a curse.
However, if everyone in the company had been defeated at this time, "sliced cheese" might never have been released to the world again.
But there was one savior in the company.
There was an employee who did not think of this failure as a failure.
"What if we wrapped each slice of cheese in film? Then, it wouldn't stick together or harden, and it would look easy to take and clean."
This idea is simple, but it incorporates all the consumer complaints and has points for improvement. He said this at an internal meeting.
However, while it is a simple idea in reality, there are also problems.
That is, an additional capital investment of 400 to 500 million yen is required for commercialization.
Most of the company was strongly opposed.
In other words, the point is that further capital investment is too dangerous.
"What if we fail again? It would be a disaster —." The company was in turmoil.
However, he did not think of failure as failure.
Perhaps he also did not want to think of it as a failure.
He also had absolute confidence that if this idea were adopted, it would be fine.
So, he, the proposer, went to America.
It was the start of market research.
Then, he noticed that similar products were selling well in America.
Cheese originally came from other countries.
However, there shouldn't be much difference between Japan and the US in terms of consumer needs.
It is the idea that something convenient is convenient everywhere.
To get his idea recognized, he had his boss, the sales manager, actually travel to America, and finally, he began to gain support within the company. After further research and experiments, "sliced cheese" reappeared in the world.
Currently, more than 50% of the company's cheese division is occupied by "sliced cheese."
This idea is very simple, but it goes without saying that the product value increased further by wrapping the cheese in film one by one.
It is an undeniable fact that those who said "I failed," "I made a huge failure," "I did something irreversible," and the attitude of "It's not a failure," "I haven't failed," "I don't acknowledge failure as failure," and "What is missing?" saved Snow Brand.
Even just one person, even just a single person, can move an entire corporate organization; the power of an idea is tremendous.
However, it is also a fact that this switch called failure became a flash of success.
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