Neophobia is the fear of trying things that are new. There are countless numbers of good ideas that have been thwarted from moving from the drawing board to the marketplace for one reason: fear! Fear of what? Fear of criticism, fear of failure, fear of looking out of step with everyone else – it all keeps us from striving for something great.

It was 120 years ago today that an art dealer from Paris named Ambroise Vollard decided to take a chance on a 19-year old Spanish artist named Pablo Picasso. He gave Picasso his first public exhibition of his artwork on June 24, 1901. Two art critics covered the show. Neither of them was impressed, but Vollard saw something in Picasso that he liked. He was young and he saw the world in a different way. So over the next decade, he continued to buy and sell Picasso’s work. How influential was Vollard’s support to Picasso’s success? Vollard was credited with helping to launch the careers of many of the famous impressionist artists a decade before Picasso came on the scene, back when no one knew who they were either. He represented artists such as Degas, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Renoir, Matisse and Cézanne. He recognized their greatness before they caught on with the rest of the art world. Before Vollard gave him this first exhibition, Picasso and his roommate were said to be burning the artist’s work to stay warm in their apartment!

T.S. Eliot wrote, "Only those who will risk too far can possibly find out how far one can go." Marketing helps you find out how far your brand can go. Until you are willing to risk an idea and market it, you will never know just how great your ideas are. Are there guarantees that marketing will work every time? No, because so much of selling and buying is based upon perception, opinion and emotion – all three ideas that are subjective, not scientific. Your branded products and services have to make inroads into the psyche of the marketplace before they are accepted – and then purchased. Yet, you will never know how great your brand can be unless you risk marketing it.

How is it that some people can spot greatness while others cannot? Maybe they don’t spot it. Maybe they are just willing to take a risk and try something new long enough to see if it catches on. Without trial, you never know what works. Without failure you never really learn how to refine what you are doing to make it the best it can be.

What about the critics? Whenever you start something new, the critics will be sure to voice their opinion. Picasso sure had his, especially when he started dabbling in abstract cubism. Art critics hated it! Let me quote my father’s advice to me in this matter. He told me to doubt my critics. Most of the time they have an ulterior motive to invest in your failure, not your success. That may be because they are too timid to try their own ideas or they are jealous of your boldness (and success). However, listen carefully to the few people who will invest in your success. In the case of Pablo Picasso, he started an abstract art movement (cubism) that ushered in a new era of modern art that we are still recognizing as greatness 120 years later. Despite his critics, Picasso had a champion in Vollard. That support and the risk of failure started a new movement in art. How about your ideas? Get past your fears, risk going beyond where you are now and see if you start something new. You will never know until you try.

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Painting by Pablo Picasso, 1921, Nous autres musiciens (Three Musicians), oil on canvas, 204.5 x 188.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

An Introduction to Picasso’s ‘Suite Vollard’, August 2, 2012, Park West Gallery online

Ambroise Vallard and His Legend, pablopicasso.org