Future Forward: Leadership Lessons from Patrick McGovern, the Visionary Who Circled the Globe and Built a Technology Media Empire

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LESSON FIVE

“Let’s Try It!” Encourage the Entrepreneurs

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

—SAMUEL BECKETT

In 1990, John Kilcullen was an ambitious young marketing executive based in New York’s vibrant publishing community. At 31, Kilcullen was thinking about his future when he received a phone call from Jonathan Sacks at IDG. Sacks had recently been named CEO of a new division called IDG Books, and he was looking for a dynamic vice president of sales and marketing. Kilcullen’s name had crossed his desk because he had worked for a large computer book publishing company in Indianapolis and seemed to be the kind of proactive self-starter Sacks was seeking. Sacks arranged to meet Kilcullen at the Helmsley ...