Here’s a harsh truth: embedded in innovation success is the reality of repeated failure. Baseball players are famous for saying that a rock star .300 average means failing 7 out of 10 times. Just imagine that: failing seven times to succeed three times is considered a fantastic result.
What if every sector of business and society saw failure this way, as the periodic and natural outcome of taking a ton of huge swings at life and work? That’s the kind of mindset that innovators must cultivate if they want to solve big problems, maximize opportunities and change up the status quo for better outcomes.
A 2019 paper from Professor Dan Wang of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management suggests just this, that failure is “the essential prerequisite for success” when people try, fail and reflect deeply on the failure in an attempt to learn lessons and adaptations for the next try. After analyzing tens of thousands of data points across decades, Wang’s project posits that learning from failure is the main differentiator between those who succeed and those who continue to try and fail. The irony? Analyzing failure requires being comfortable with it in the first place.
Unfortunately, many people and organizations are so fearful of failing that they never really try anything new and when they do try and fail they often seek to hide or minimize failure out of shame, frustration or guilt. And whether intentionally or not, internal policies, field-wide professional habits and standards and legacy cultures can often choke out innovation by systematizing this hesitation to confront failure.
How Can Museums and Mission-Driven Businesses Leverage Failure for Success?
How can museums and mission-driven businesses get more comfortable with the potential for failure in order to create more future successes? Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmonson outlines some ways organizations can engage failure for their benefit:
-
- Imagine being a learning organization versus an expert organization
-
- Develop an internal mechanism for spotting and showcasing failure
-
- Create a safe environment for discussing failures
-
- Dig into failures, find something to learn, adapt and retool for next time
-
- Give team members permission to take risks, determine the boundaries
Taking chances can only work in environments that are safe, equitable and collaborative, so be sure to address issues of bias, inequality and mission-conflict before working to leverage failure as an asset.
Read more about Professor Wang’s research here.
Read more from Professor Amy Edmonson on learning through failure here.
Listen to Amy Edmonson talk about failure on the 10% Happier with Dan Harris podcast here.
