I entered business journalism quite by accident in 2008. One of the first (and brutal) lessons I learned was to not drink the Kool-Aid of my own writing, when my very first draft was slashed down nearly 80% in length.  

I’m only mildly paraphrasing what one of my editors told me after cutting out the bulk of a story I’d spent months working on: “Nobody wants to read your tome of a research report!”

The second thing I learned is that developing trusting relationships with industry leaders and sources takes a lot of time. Since then, things have only gotten worse on that count. For reasons too many and too complex for this edition, it’s become harder for business journalists to develop trusted relationships with powerful and influential leaders, including founders. Most are guarded, scripted, and filtered through layers of officialspeak.

Not Vineeta Singh, the spirited and driven co-founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics. I met her at a recording studio in Mumbai last October for the first time and came away thinking she was an exception to the rule. Vineeta was candid, unfiltered, cheerful, and trusting through the nearly two hours that we spoke for First Principles. 

I spoke to Vineeta earlier this week, with a view to seeking out her favourite First Principles. We spent the first 10 minutes on the call talking shop, cracking jokes, and just letting off steam. It was fun!

We then moved on to discussing the First Principle that Vineeta relied on most frequently as Sugar’s CEO. 

It would have to be the concept of “fail forward”, she said. 

“Failing forward” is the counterintuitive (or perhaps common-sensical) principle that holds failure not as an obstacle to our success, but a prerequisite. Most failures represent the collision of our ambition, tenacity, and effort against reality. If we aren’t failing every now and then, perhaps we aren’t doing things that are ambitious?

Remember that adage, “we miss 100% of the shots that we don’t take”? It’s easier to visualise if you think of Michael Jordan as the one missing the shots.