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» Intelligent failure is a key component of innovation
“When we’re young, we learn early that failure is bad,” said Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson and Global Leadership Network presenter. As adults, when we hear leaders say, “Failure is fine in good times, but in turbulent times everything has to go well,” that’s not helping us nurture innovation or progress.
Teammates respond to this kind of leadership with silence, avoidance, and safe behavior that lacks smart risk-taking to advance the company. Instead, employees need to hear that failure is an effective learning process that meets Edmondson’s four criteria below and where each unsuccessful attempt is a step closer to finding the right solution.
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» Winning Words
I haven’t failed! I found ten thousand ways that don’t work!


The most important thing we can do is to stop apologizing for having failed. Failure is part of life.
Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.

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» 3 Key Plays
In Amy Edmondson’s The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, she categorizes failure into three main types to help individuals and organizations learn and innovate effectively:
1. Basic Failure
This occurs due to avoidable mistakes in routine, predictable processes. Examples include neglecting safety protocols or making errors in repetitive tasks. These failures are often seen as preventable with proper attention to detail, training, and process management.
2. Complex Failure
These happen in complicated systems where multiple factors interact unpredictably, such as in health care or aviation. Even when protocols are followed, unforeseen combinations of events can result in failure. Learning from these situations requires understanding the systemic interactions and adapting processes to improve resilience.
3. Intelligent Failure
This type of failure arises from well-planned, thoughtful experiments aimed at exploring new territory. It is a key component of innovation, as it allows individuals or teams to test hypotheses, learn from the outcomes, and refine their approach. These failures are considered productive because they generate insights that contribute to future success. Here are the attributes of intelligent failure, according to Edmondson:
- It takes place in a new territory.
- It’s driven by a focus on opportunity.
- It’s informed by available knowledge. In other words, you’ve done your homework and have good reason to believe it can work.
- The failure is no larger than necessary to gain new knowledge. Is the failure as small as possible?
Edmondson emphasizes that distinguishing between these types is critical for fostering a culture of constructive learning while avoiding unproductive failures. Organizations benefit by reducing basic failures, mitigating complex ones, and encouraging intelligent failures to drive growth and innovation.
The Monday Playbook delivers a quick, motivational plan to help you win your week as you tackle universal challenges in leadership, business, and life.
Michael Bigley
nice weekly post Walt – as per RJ Smith, “Nothing beats a failure but a try”.