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Everyone loves a success story!

The internet is rife with inspirational stories of how people have beaten the odds and triumphed in their pursuits and endeavours. More often than not, such stories are presented to us in a manner which encourages us to see what these people did right in order for us to learn from their successes and hopefully replicate their positive results. The same holds true for articles which provide "tips and tricks" or advice from prominent individuals regarded as experts in their field. We read these stories to draw inspiration, to increase our knowledge of the field, or perhaps simply as a morale booster to see us through tough times...a bookish pep-talk of sorts. While this could be beneficial, if we focus solely on these success stories, we run the risk of always looking at a one-sided picture, a half-truth.

The stark reality is that many, many stories are in fact, to some degree, failures. However, nobody enjoys reading about how difficult it is to achieve our goals, or how many people have already tried and failed at doing exactly the same thing we are trying to do. Besides being a hit to our morale, we tend to think that since they must have done something wrong, they aren't the ones to learn from. So we look towards the celebrity figures as the sole source of wisdom.

What we fail to realise is that failures probably offer us much more valuable information than the successes. By seeing where things went wrong, we learn how to avoid doing the same mistakes. I'm not saying that we should focus on the negative rather than the positive. That would still be the same issue, albeit in reverse. One must have a healthy dose of both and look at all the available information.

Naturally the issue is much more complex than that, but the basic concept is that we must not blindly separate the winners from the losers or even fail to recognise that there are, in fact, losers in every scenario.

If you're not one to be deterred by lengthy articles, I strongly suggest you read David McRaney's article on Survivorship Bias. It's a very interesting read and extremely well written.

So if you're trying to start a profitable business and are in the process of understanding what works and what doesn't, make sure you don't fall victim to survivorship bias.

Stephen

At the risk of making the article title sound like clickbait, I can collectively refer to these skills through a singular, but broad, term: communication skills.

I don't mean marketing, although that does require strong communication skills. I mean being able to figuratively and literally stand in front of people, whatever their relationship is to you, and say what you need to say articulately, clearly and in a way that everyone can understand. You need to be convincing, even when you might be wrong or are doubting yourself, and especially if you're in a leadership role.


So:

• Speaking or writing...
• Addressing team members, partners, employees, potential investors or customers...
• Pitching, teaching, motivating, documenting or asking questions...

I'd rank this high in any sector, but perhaps in games I would place it at the very top.

Why?

• We're not just a creative industry, where clarity and unambiguity is always necessary, but a creative-technical mix, which makes it exponentially more important
• Remote teams are very common
• Very noisy industry, so it's the clear voice that stands out
• Mix of experienced and inexperienced individuals, across the board
• Global. Multi-cultural.
• Not just hit-driven but also brand- and personality-driven

Stephen