I have written before about my concerns with how we too often glorify ‘Failure” when in fact without the right culture, mindset and leadership failure may simply lead to more failure, a diminished sense of confidence and never actually result in positive learning. 

Dan Dworkis is someone I have huge respect for. He is author of the great book The Emergency Mindand host of the Emergency Mind Podcast. In a recent newsletter he recommended a video put out by Farnam Street titled Why It’s Important For You To Practice Failure. While I do not claim to be anywhere near as smart as Dan, or the people at Farnam Street, I have a concern with the message from the video and am going to suggest a reframe. 

The following is the e-mail I sent to Dan Dworkis (although I doubt he will get a chance to read it):

Dan,

I am a fan of your book and podcast and subscribe to your newsletter. I watched the video you recommended from Farnam Street on practicing failure. I would suggest that “practicing failure” is not what we should be doing. We should be striving (to improve, learn and grow) understanding that in the striving sometimes we will fail. When we do fail it is an opportunity to learn, grow and find a better way to do things. Instead of practicing failure I believe we should be practicing to recover from failure. Recover from failure of equipment and systems or failure caused by human error. Recover from failure to accomplish our goals and objectives. In the video I believe the key to his message is that we need to practice recovering from stalls (failure and mistakes), not to practice stalls. The stall may be the result of human error, equipment failure, weather or other factors. I would suggest we need to reframe the discussion on failure to focus on striving, not failing, and practice recovering from failure instead of practicing failing. 

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts. Keep up the important work you are doing on all fronts. 

We do not need to practice making mistakes and practice failing, we do however need to practice recovering from mistakes and failure.  As a pilot if I only practiced making mistakes that resulted in the aircraft stalling, I would only get one opportunity to do that before I crashed. If instead, I simulate conditions that could cause a stall and practice recovering from those stalls then when it happens unexpectedly during a flight I am prepared to deal with it, and recover from it.

Without the right mindset, and the right culture there may be little or no positive learning that results from failure. Practicing mistakes and failure can actually be counterproductive. We do need to prepare for failure and prepare to recover from mistakes and failure. In an interview with Jonathan Fader PhD on the Chasing Excellence podcast Fader (as he likes to be called) addressed his concern with the emphasis on failure. He reframed it as, “We need to have a method to reset after unwanted results.” Fader works with professional athletes and teams in the NFL and MLB and also works with the FDNY. We will all experience unwanted results in life. What many of us fail to do is develop a method to deal with that when it happens, and develop tools to allow us to reset and move forward having learned from the experience. 

A golfer doesn’t need to practice making bad shots. They do need to practice making a recovery shot out of the rough or the sand. A pitcher in baseball does not need to practice throwing balls or pitches that result in a home run. They do need to have a method to recover from those unwanted results. A quarterback in football does not need to practice throwing interceptions. They do need to have a method to recover from those unwanted results. A kicker in football does not need to practice missing a critical field goal. They do need to have a method to recover from those unwanted results. A goaltender does not need to practice giving up a goal at a critical moment in a game. They do need to have a method to recover from those unwanted results. I could go on, but I am sure you get the point. 

As a leader you need to create a culture where you and the people you have the privilege to lead are striving for excellence and are willing to stand up, own up and admit to mistakes and failure in order for the individual, and the team, to learn from those events, make appropriate adjustments and then move forward better off for the experience. If you are a trainer then training should be a safe place for people to fail, recover from it, learn from it and move forward.

What’s Important Now? Focus on striving. Focus on the pursuit of excellence. Develop skills for recovering from failure, human error, and unwanted results. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. 

ONE QUESTION BRINGING FOCUS AND CLARITY IN THE CHAOS AND COMPLEXITY OF TODAY'S WORLD.

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