Learning From Failure

Failure is an oft-repeated buzzword in Silicon Valley. Dave McClure, founder of over 500 startups, said this about failure in a recent Fast Company article: “We’re here trying to ‘manufacture fail’ on a regular basis, and we think that’s how you learn. Getting used to that, bouncing back from that, being able to figure out what people hate and turn that into what people love . . . if you’re not willing to take the risk of failing . . . you’re never going to figure out what the right path is to success.”

Learning from both success and failure is an Own It best practice, but most people and organizations still struggle to get it right. First, they don’t spend enough time understanding and communicating their success. Second, they don’t see mistakes as an integral part of taking the necessary risks—a Solve It best practice. Taking accountability for failure means recognizing that many of our most important lessons in life and work come from trial and error. Jim Owens, former CEO of Caterpillar Inc., is often remembered for reminding leaders that their most important lessons come from their toughest losses. But this is true only if we learn from those losses.

Based on our experience with thousands of companies building greater accountability for achieving results, here’s what taking accountability for failure looks like to us:  See It, view the failure from every possible angle until you understand it; Own It, embrace failure like Edison did: “I have just discovered another way that doesn’t work”; Solve It, continue to ask “What else can I do?” by applying lessons learned to achieve the results you want; and Do It, keep moving forward until you make success happen.

Business failure isn’t new, but people and organizations that are faster and smarter at taking accountability for learning from failure win big in the marketplace. IDEO founder David Kelley sees failure as a necessary ingredient for success. In fact, he encourages his people to become comfortable with bad ideas. Why? He firmly believes that people will always miss good ideas unless they have the freedom to pursue bad ideas.

To learn more about taking accountability for failure, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client case studies.

See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It, and Accountability Community are all registered trademarks of Partners In Leadership, Inc.