Nope, you're right to point that out. But a certain amount of success is an important requirement.
You can still fail sometimes and try again and have success or find out that something is just not possible.
So trying to put it in a single word was maybe a weak attempt. There are more factors, like do something new (and hopefully have success with it), learn a lot, hard work...
Funny, after responding to your post I was watching that IBM video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrhDaAmn5Uw&feature=chann... somebody had posted on HN in the meantime. And "to invent" was what I actually wanted to add here, after I heard Bijan Davari in the video, saying "Our job is to invent" (around 26:30)
You can still fail sometimes and try again and have success or find out that something is just not possible.
So trying to put it in a single word was maybe a weak attempt. There are more factors, like do something new (and hopefully have success with it), learn a lot, hard work...