Make Mistakes to Make Progress

It was September eighteenth. A California bank wanted to gain market share, expand its offerings, and serve a new set of customers. Their question was how. 

One option was marketing. They could put up signs alongside the north-south highway that runs through the state. They could create radio advertisements. They could train their staff to educate the consumer. They could, they could, they could. 

Another option was just to mail everyone a brand-new credit card. 

And that’s what they did. 

Sixty thousand of Fresno’s residents got a credit card with a three hundred dollar limit. There were no billboards, no radio jingles, or telling tellers. 

There were also no credit checks. Whoops. 

In 1958 Bank of America had two goals: sign up merchants and get people to use the new credit cards. There probably were tactical solutions. There probably was a way business historians would applaud, note, and teach in classes. There could have been credit checks. 

But there was also this way. Bank of America kept the main thing the main thing: get people using this. 

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes if you’re also making progress. 

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