The Contrarian. chapter 5
"Failure is not an option."
I decided to create a section called THE CONTRARIAN. Here I reflect on popular phrases and take the opposite side of their fundamental premise.
Even if there are relative truths to be found in them, I propose a contrarian view to the universal wisdom they claim.
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
Samuel Beckett, prose “Worstward Ho” 1983
“ … you must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on”
Samuel Beckett in “The Unnamable”, 1953
The popular quote "Failure is not an option" has been practically used as a mantra for success, and while there are situations in which one has no alternative than to live by these words, failure is always a possibility, a possibility that must be kept front and center (“only the paranoid survive”).
Today the contrarian is back to challenge conventional wisdom.
Failure is a consistent teacher of skills and of character, which can also act as a catalyst for personal and organizational pivot and growth. When you perceive failure as a stepping stone rather than the end result, you open doors to new possibilities fostering a culture of experimentation and resilience.
However, and here a lot of what I’ve seen in environments that don’t “walk the talk”… it is not the same to “tolerate” failure than to “embrace” failure along the way.
To illustrate the point like to think of a coach on the side of a football (soccer) field… not to complain about the miss but to help the player focus on the ball and move on… “keep going, it’s ok, just look up, turn to your right, see where your teammates are, pass the ball, keep running, look for an empty space to receive the ball, move without the ball, check back, push forward, stop and think, pass backwards, cool down, now charge again…”
I personally love this analogy as it should not be confused with being a micromanager or with doing the job for your people, but as the ultimate commitment to team results and to collective continuous improvement. It’s an image that has shaped my management philosophy because it helps me keep pace with my team and reminds me that “doing and learning” happen together and in motion, mistakes and failures included:
1. never stop moving (the ball, your body, your mind) even when you need to pause,
2. learn quickly from the miss, adapt to the field conditions, pivot and move on.
Be hands on with your teams, helping avoid blind spots, acting as a support peer, not holding accountability by keeping tabs on mistakes but by helping achieve goals with the highest impact possible.
Be the coach on the bench that walks alongside up and down the field, helping become and achieve, not judging from privilege.
Thomas Edison and the journey to the lightbulb
History is full of examples that challenge the notion that failure is unacceptable. For example, the case of Thomas Edison who experienced thousands of failed attempts over years of research before successfully inventing a practical and commercially viable incandescent light bulb. Imagine the difference after each failed attempt between “That’s it, I’m done. This will not work.” and "Well, that wasn't it either! Next.”
It’s your choice!
Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." His relentless pursuit of innovation and willingness to learn from failures ultimately led to transformative breakthroughs.
What are some of the insights from the Edison's saga to draw implications for building a learning organization?
Persistence pays off, but patience is a virtue: Edison's journey teaches us that success doesn't happen overnight. It requires persistence to keep trying and a huge dose of patience not to despair. Building a learning organization means embracing the long game, acknowledging that failure is part of the process, and staying the course until breakthroughs are achieved.
Celebrate the process, not just the outcome: In Edison's case, each failed attempt brought him closer to success. Learning organizations should celebrate the process of experimentation, valuing the lessons and insights gained from failures. Too many “best practice” sharing in the corporate world, what about the “worst practice” sharing and even further, collective debriefing? Celebrate when the team tried, failed, learned, and improved. Reward that process perhaps even more than a random success. Learning from failure fuels innovation!
Consider J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter manuscript was rejected by multiple publishers before finding success: "Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success."
Collaboration and collective learning: Edison wasn't a one-man show. He surrounded himself with a team of talented individuals. Collaboration and the exchange of ideas to overcome collective challenges is critical. Building a learning organization involves promoting collaboration, creating spaces for collective learning, and encouraging cross-functional teams to exchange perspectives and share knowledge. Eliminate the weeds of jealousy and siloed thinking immediately. Do not breed toxicity, do not tolerate individualistic behaviors when the goals are collective.
Fail fast, fail forward: While it may seem like Edison's 10,000 attempts were an eternity, he approached each failure as a valuable learning opportunity. He quickly identified what didn't work, adjusted his approach, and tried again. A learning organization should cultivate an environment where failures are embraced as stepping stones, encouraging individuals to learn, adapt, and iterate rapidly.
Edison's journey to the light bulb reminds us that failure is not just a punchline but a crucial ingredient in the recipe for success.
Let’s switch gears to Space now. I am a big fan and student of the Apollo program. One day I’ll write something about how I see the Apollo missions, one by one, as part of a comprehensive program for leadership studies, for formulating strategy and excelling at execution, for overcoming major setbacks, for pivoting knowing when to accelerate and when to pause and… for turning failure into success.
APOLLO 13 - The successful failure
"Okay Houston, we've had a problem here."
(by the way, this is the real quote by command module pilot Jack Swigert, and not the shorter version made popular in the movie by Tom Hanks “Houston, we have a problem)
One example of a historical experience in which "failure is not an option" was debunked is the story of the Apollo 13 mission. In 1970, NASA's Apollo 13 spacecraft was on its way to the moon when an explosion occurred, damaging critical systems and putting the lives of the crew in danger.
At this point, the mission director Gene Kranz famously declared, "failure is not an option" and led a team of engineers and astronauts in a memorable effort to try and bring the spacecraft back to Earth safely.
Despite their best efforts, the team encountered numerous setbacks. Initially, it seemed that they might not be able to bring the crew back alive. However, Gene Kranz and his team refused to give up, constantly adjusting their approach and trying new solutions. It’s what can be called "adaptive leadership."
Ultimately, thanks to the team's perseverance, creativity, and willingness to take risks (all under time pressure), they were able to develop a plan to bring the crew back to Earth safely. Because of this, the Apollo 13 mission is widely regarded as a triumph of leadership, teamwork, and innovation under extreme pressure.
However, what is often overlooked is that the mission was only successful because the team was willing to embrace failure as a potential outcome. In fact, it was the recognition of potential failure that motivated the team to work harder, think creatively, and take calculated risks to find a solution. The team had to bring failure into the equation and accept it as an option, in order to push the boundaries of possible solutions. If failure wouldn’t have been an option at all, there are things that they tried that could NOT have been considered, therefore limiting the type of experimentation they could have allowed themselves to do, which would have potentially led them to running out of time without finding the right solution that they finally implemented.
Note: I hope I am being clear in what I am trying to convey here, because it matters to the core argument I am trying to make. There is a difference between not wanting failure but embracing it when it happens; and being told that “failure is not an option” because lives are at stake, but still deciding that only by accepting the possibility of failure (to make it “an option”), you are able to push the limits of what’s possible to find a solution with the highest probability of success, but still having “failure” as a possible outcome. If failure would not have been an option, then probably all proposed plans would have led to “no go” decisions or to very conservative decisions with less probability of success… and astronauts would have died in space. This can just be perceived as a play with words, but it has profound mindset implications for dealing with performance under pressure.
In this way, the Apollo 13 mission provides a powerful example of how failure can be a necessary and even beneficial part of the leadership journey. By embracing the possibility of failure and using it as a motivator to work harder and think more creatively, leaders can ultimately achieve success even when faced with seemingly impossible challenges.
Three big lessons for leadership
Encourage a culture that embraces risk-taking: Leaders should foster a culture that encourages calculated risk-taking, where failures are seen as learning opportunities rather than punishable offenses. By creating an environment where employees feel safe to take risks, leaders unleash the full potential of their teams.
Foster a culture of psychological safety: When leaders openly acknowledge and discuss failures, it creates a culture of psychological safety. This environment allows team members to take risks, share ideas, and learn from mistakes without fear of judgment or repercussions. Psychological safety promotes collaboration, trust, and innovation. Celebrate failures and share stories: Leaders should celebrate failures openly and share stories of lessons learned. By normalizing failure as an essential part of the growth process, leaders create an environment where individuals feel empowered to experiment, innovate, and challenge the status quo.
Provide support and resources: Leaders must provide the necessary support and resources to help individuals recover from failure. This includes mentorship, coaching, and access to learning and development opportunities that enable individuals to bounce back stronger.
EmbracE resilience and perseverance: Failure is often accompanied by setbacks and challenges. By embracing failure as an integral part of the journey to success, leaders promote resilience and perseverance among their team members. This resilience enables individuals to bounce back from failures, adapt to changing circumstances, and ultimately achieve breakthroughs.
Promote a growth mindset: Viewing failure as an opportunity for growth cultivates a mindset that values learning, adaptation, and continuous improvement. When leaders embrace failure and encourage their teams to do the same, it fosters a culture that thrives on innovation and creativity. It’s not about moving from failure to failure in life, because it is obvious that one wants to succeed. It’s about building a safe How to get there.
As Winston Churchill observed, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
The ability to 1. understand that failure is always an option; wanted or not, always an option present in the deck, 2. embrace it when it happens, 3. bounce back, learn and course correct… are strengths to successfully navigate the ever-changing landscapes we are immersed in.
In conclusion, the notion that failure is not an option neglects the immense potential for growth, learning, and innovation that failures offer.
Special Mention: building Learning Organizations
Everybody talks in the corporate world about building a “learning organization”, but do leaders know how to create and nurture such culture? From psychological safety to specific capabilities... Leading by example, focusing on coaching, prioritizing communication, celebrating success. It is described that the 5 elements to building a learning organization are: team learning, shared vision, mental models, personal mastery and systems thinking. There is so much to unpack here and this is not the goal of today’s post, but I did want to make a special mention to this point because it is easier said than done there are too environments that don’t walk the talk. I’ve seen first hand talent suffering from unnecessary anxiety in teams that allegedly are part of learning organizations. Maybe one day we’ll talk more about this.
The final contrarian words by “The Contrarian”
I will conclude today by creating a contrarian view to my whole contrarian argument, and say that I firmly believe that FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Yes, you heard me clearly: Failure is not an option. What failure? you should ask. The ultimate failure.
Failing to achieve the goal of being honest, of being empathetic, of being respectful, of being patient, of having developed oneself and help develop others to the maximum (and beyond) of possibilities, of having truly cared for one another, of having mattered to the ones whose lives we touched… Failing is NOT an option!
Get really good at failing as much as you want throughout the journey because at the end, when you look back, you will want to be able to say ‘I have succeeded in making a positive impact in this world and in people’s lives. Failing at that was never an option.’
P.S. Before I go, here you have “The Treat,” where I share some of the music that made me company while writing … Enjoy as you bid farewell to this post
Lead yourself, Learn to live. Lead others, Learn to Build.
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