Embrace Failure

I am a failure. I have failed many times.…… And I LOVE it. I learned to embrace failure !

This article explores the concept of failure, challenging the stigma often attached to it and highlighting its role as a powerful learning tool.

Learning From Mistakes

Humans are wired to learn from mistakes. As children we stumble and fall, scrape our knees and it hurts. These experiences teach us valuable lessons about falling. Great inventors like Thomas Edison embraced failure, viewing it as part of the learning process. His famous quote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work,” exemplifies this mindset.

Theodore Roosevelt said “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” and so highlights that mistakes and failure are a natural part of life.

But in adult life over the last few decades something changed. Somehow failure was seen as a bad thing and there has been a stigma associated with it in both our personal and professional lives. And yet the lessons of failure can actually be a catalyst for tremendous personal and professional growth.

Mike Bloomberg said “Show me someone that has never failed and I will show you someone that has not pushed themselves hard enough”. So what changed and why do we have such a major disconnect ?

Reframing Failure

Dictionaries define failure as “a lack of success” or “a person or thing that is not successful.” However, these definitions don’t capture the essence of learning through trial and error. Failure can also simply mean “not doing something expected,” which can be a result of calculated risks or a lack of effort.

We know that failure is a natural and inevitable part of life and any career journey. It’s important to distinguish between failure due to a lack of effort and failure as a stepping stone. The consequences of failure also vary. A child’s scraped knee heals, and Edison may have used a lot of time and materials for the lightbulb filament issues, but he got there in the end.

However, there are situations where failure has dire implications. In the Apollo 13 mission, an oxygen tank explosion caused a life threatening problem for three astronauts on a moon mission. Gene Krantz, the Flight Director, made a clear statement to his team of mission controllers – “Failure is not an option”. Failure would result in the death of the astronauts.

They did an amazing job and the lives of the astronauts were saved, but let’s look at his statement. For this issue, failure was not an option. But this means that at other times failure WAS an option. In fact NASA had many failures and built processes around them to ensure that they learned the lessons of those failures, and they are still being applied today. What Gene Krantz fully understood was the risk associated with the outcome of the failure.

And so what we need to take away from this is that failure can be both good and bad and that we need to assess the outcomes and risks associated with it. We need to embrace failure !

The Benefits of Failure

Failure is a great teacher. Athletes hone their skills through repeated practice, learning from mistakes along the way. Failure fosters perseverance, resilience, and adaptability. By overcoming challenges, we not only achieve our goals but also build valuable life skills.

If we look at some of the greatest innovators and the greatest inventions you will see failure everywhere. However they have used their resilience to keep driving and keep trying until they get it right. That spirit of creativity and innovation is the mark of an amazing person, and yet it exists in every single one of us, somewhere deep down inside of us. So how do we use it and how do we embrace failure?

Embracing Failure in the Workplace

Many cultures and companies view mistakes as negative. Bad managers will often criticise failure, and yet in their arrogance they have not recognised that THEY have failed by not creating an environment where their team can be successful.

Building a culture of psychological safety, where failure is seen as a learning opportunity, is crucial for growth. Leaders who openly share their own mistakes and create a safe environment for exploration will foster innovation and development.

A great example of this is the aerospace industry. Any time that there is an incident with an aircraft around the world, the incident is thoroughly investigated and the results openly shared. The intent is to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.

The Role of Risk Assessment

Failure often involves taking calculated risks. Once again, the aerospace industry exemplifies this concept. Pilots train in flight simulators to learn from simulated failures in a safe environment, without any risk to real passengers. Similarly, our teams should assess risks, learn from failures, and share those lessons openly. They should train and role play in a safe environment prior to meetings, demos and POVs with the customer.

Conclusion

Failure is an inevitable part of life. We need to embrace failure to create a safe learning environment, and by assessing risks we can turn failure into a powerful catalyst for personal and professional growth. Remember, “Failure is not an option” only applies in rare situations. For most of us, failure is an option, and a valuable one at that.