Survivorship bias is the erroneous practice of focusing just on businesses that have succeeded, based on specific criteria, as opposed to those that haven’t succeeded, to arrive at conclusions about success. This is due to the lack of visibility that unsuccessful businesses get. Survivorship bias is, in a sense, a form of selective biasing which can cause false conclusions as a result of not taking the “failures” into account.

Overcoming survivorship bias becomes critical in business to ensure that you do not overlook important variables that can have a negative impact on your company. Here are some ways to prevent survivorship bias from short-circuiting your business:

Buying Into the Fluff

It can be very tempting to buy into all the fluff when you hear about many overnight success stories. It can appear so easy, as a spectator looking in. But what you often don’t realize, until you actually start and run your business, is that there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. Resist the urge to get caught up in stories of instant success. While sudden success is possible, it certainly is an exception to the rule when you’re starting your own business.

Do You Have All The Facts?

How-to guides on business and decision making can often be over-simplified to the extent that you can miss some important facts and criteria in the middle. If you’re just starting out, it is good to have a mentor or coach who can help steer you back on track and help you stay focused.

Attention to Detail

Survivorship bias often lends itself to glossing over the details. And details can be everything when it comes to business. Do not build an over-reliance on other people’s success stories to the extent that you miss the trees for the forest. Each individual tree makes up the forest. A missing component can be particularly disempowering for your business. Always fine-tooth comb your business plan to ensure you’ve gone over every single detail.

Learning from Mistakes

Eliminating failed businesses from your business research, due to survivorship bias, does not serve you. If there are 99 reasons why something didn’t work, and just one reason why it did, exploring those 99 reasons is just as important. The knowledge that you obtain from failures can be invaluable. They show you just how you shouldn’t do things, saving you time, money, resources, and intensive work.

The Proof is in the Pudding

Continue to monitor successes over the long-term to see whether they can maintain longevity and staying power. Often, businesses that don’t last didn’t have a solid foundation to start with. Survivorship bias can mean that you are easily swayed. What appears to be hot and trending right now can sometimes be fleeting, as opposed to a business idea that can change direction as needed and continue to ride the momentum for years to come.

It is important to get past survivorship bias to really grow and thrive in your business. Success can often be the result of failure or learning from other people’s failures. Knowing why your business can fail is just as important as knowing how it can succeed.

Working with a coach can help you to identify if you have survivorship bias in your business, the strengths of your business, and areas for improvement.