I was angry. (It was a good thing.)

I almost gave up… Technically, maybe I did.

(Just know… This idea wasn’t in my job scope— I worked in Research & Development.

But it aligned with the business priority: Innovation. And I just knew we needed this.)

I had this idea. It was all put together and ready to go too! My stakeholders were on board. I even had a budget approved.

My idea? To build an innovation space.

We were getting ready to execute…. putting all the pieces in place. Until the company announced: We would move buildings.

And… our new building didn’t have the space. We barely had enough desks for everyone, let alone a large, open, collaborative area.

It felt hopeless. A physical limitation I couldn’t solve. So I gave up.

8 months later, I read an article. A competitor announced the opening of their brand new own innovation space.

Exactly like the one I wanted to create.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Ugh. 😣

First frustration hit. Then anger. This was my idea! And a competitor beat us to it?!

And finally, a question… Well, why not us too?

I realized the limitation wasn’t the building.

It was me.

So I decided to see what I could do. Fast forward, we found space in a nearby company-owned building, only 15 minutes away.

Space that wasn’t even being used!

A concern popped up. Would people use it if the space wasn’t in the same building?

More limited thinking… but I learned my lesson. So I asked, What can we do about that?

We built an awareness campaign and incentives to visit the space. Managers booked meetings there, which brought employees over to discover it for the

first time.

The first year it launched?

Over 65 teams used the space.

Here’s the truth:

The moment you want to quit is often the exact moment you need to push.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

How do you “do it all”?