Failure Tolerant Leader
The Failure-Tolerant Leader
Based on “The Failure-Tolerant Leader” by Richard Farson and Ralph Keys, HBR, August 2002, pp.64-71; which won the McKinsey Awards for 2002.
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
Executives know that failure is an integral part of innovation.
But how do they encourage the right kinds of mistakes?
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”
Tom Watson, IBM
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
• More and more executives understand that failure is a prerequisite to innovation.
• If it’s not willing to encourage risk taking and learn from subsequent mistakes, organizations cannot make breakthroughs.
• Organizations launch two or more projects with the same goal, sending teams in different directions simultaneously.
• This approach called “simultaneous management” creates the potential for a healthy crossfertilization of new ideas and techniques.
• While organizations are beginning to accept the value of failure in the abstract – at the level of corporate policies, processes and practices – it’s an entirely different matter at the personal level.
• Everyone hates to fail. • There is fear of embarrassment and loss of esteem and stature.
• Robert Shapiro at Monsanto explained to his employees that every product and project was an experiment and they fail only if their experiment was halfhearted, careless efforts with poor results. • But a deliberate, wellthought-out effort that didn’t succeed was not only excusable but worthwhile.
• Such an approach to mistake making is characteristics of people known as “failuretolerant leaders”.
Failure-Tolerant Leaders
• Executives who through their words and action, help overcome their fear of failure and create a culture of intelligent risk-taking. Break down the social and bureaucratic barriers that separate them from their followers. Engage at the personal level with the people they lead. • Avoid
Based on “The Failure-Tolerant Leader” by Richard Farson and Ralph Keys, HBR, August 2002, pp.64-71; which won the McKinsey Awards for 2002.
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
Executives know that failure is an integral part of innovation.
But how do they encourage the right kinds of mistakes?
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”
Tom Watson, IBM
Uniting Nations by Learning Together
• More and more executives understand that failure is a prerequisite to innovation.
• If it’s not willing to encourage risk taking and learn from subsequent mistakes, organizations cannot make breakthroughs.
• Organizations launch two or more projects with the same goal, sending teams in different directions simultaneously.
• This approach called “simultaneous management” creates the potential for a healthy crossfertilization of new ideas and techniques.
• While organizations are beginning to accept the value of failure in the abstract – at the level of corporate policies, processes and practices – it’s an entirely different matter at the personal level.
• Everyone hates to fail. • There is fear of embarrassment and loss of esteem and stature.
• Robert Shapiro at Monsanto explained to his employees that every product and project was an experiment and they fail only if their experiment was halfhearted, careless efforts with poor results. • But a deliberate, wellthought-out effort that didn’t succeed was not only excusable but worthwhile.
• Such an approach to mistake making is characteristics of people known as “failuretolerant leaders”.
Failure-Tolerant Leaders
• Executives who through their words and action, help overcome their fear of failure and create a culture of intelligent risk-taking. Break down the social and bureaucratic barriers that separate them from their followers. Engage at the personal level with the people they lead. • Avoid