The Misunderstood Concept of Failure
In business (and in life), we often misuse the word failure—in fact, we overuse it. Mischaracterizing failure can profoundly impact individual motivation, team dynamics, and organizational culture. As we'll explore, what we often label as failure is actually a crucial part of the learning and evolution process.
The Disservice of Mislabeling
We do ourselves a horrible disservice by labeling everything that isn’t a distinct “win” a “failure.” Sometimes, we have failed. Perhaps we lost a deal. The competition trounced us. When those things happen, we should call a thing a “thing” and not shy away from it. But learning is not failing. That is evolution.
The Evolution of Failure Perception
In the 1990s, professional challenges would have been described in a review as “needs improvement”—and people were conditioned to feel shame. Performance management practices have evolved significantly since then. While earlier approaches often emphasized annual reviews focusing on past performance (Murphy & Cleveland, 1995), many organizations today are moving towards more frequent, development-oriented conversations (Cappelli & Tavis, 2016). This shift reflects a growing understanding of the importance of continuous feedback and learning in employee development.
Learning from Industry "Failures"
Consider the case of Steve Jobs. His ousting from Apple in 1985 could be seen as a monumental failure. However, Jobs later reflected, “I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me” (Isaacson, 2011). This period led to the creation of NeXT and Pixar, ultimately informing the strategies that would revitalize Apple upon his return.
Common Startup “Failures” as Learning Opportunities
In the startup world, what we often label as failures are critical learning experiences:
Failed Ideas: As Eric Ries points out in The Lean Startup, many initial business ideas don't survive first contact with customers. However, these "failures" often lead to pivots that result in successful businesses (Ries, 2011).
Flawed Customer Interviews: Misinterpreting customer feedback can lead to product development missteps. However, as Steve Blank emphasizes, these missteps often lead to deeper customer understanding and more refined value propositions (Blank & Dorf, 2012).
Product Launch Setbacks: Many successful products we know today, like Slack or Instagram, evolved from initial “failures.” These setbacks often provide invaluable market insights (Griffith, 2019).
Premature Scaling: A common startup pitfall is expanding too quickly before achieving product-market fit. However, this experience often teaches founders the importance of sustainable growth and resource allocation (Marmer et al., 2011).
Co-founder Conflicts: Disagreements between founders can lead to startup dissolution, but they also provide crucial lessons in team dynamics, communication, and alignment of vision (Wasserman, 2012).
The Role of Organizational Culture
The organizational cultures we are in, how performance is managed, and how promotions are doled out determine if that is an actual failure or not. As Edgar Schein notes, “The culture of a group can be defined as the accumulated shared learning of that group as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration” (Schein, 2010).
The Courage to Learn
Nothing happens without courage. It takes bravery to:
Admit that our initial approach might not be optimal
Challenge the status quo
View setbacks as opportunities for growth
As Angela Duckworth notes in her research on grit, “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” The ability to persist and learn from setbacks is a key predictor of long-term success (Duckworth, 2016).
Conclusion: Embracing Evolution
By framing these experiences as evolution rather than failure, we open ourselves up to continuous improvement. We create a culture where people feel safe exploring, questioning, and iterating. And isn't that the kind of culture where true innovation thrives?
The next time you face a setback or realize your initial approach wasn't quite right, remember: you haven't failed. You've discovered an opportunity to evolve. Embrace it with courage, and see where it leads you!
References:
Blank, S., & Dorf, B. (2012). The Startup Owner's Manual. K&S Ranch.
Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Scribner.
Marmer, M., Herrmann, B. L., Dogrultan, E., Berman, R., Eesley, C., & Blank, S. (2011). Startup Genome Report Extra: Premature Scaling. Startup Genome.
Wasserman, N. (2012). The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. Princeton University Press.
Griffith, E. (2019). Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success. Portfolio.
Cappelli, P., & Tavis, A. (2016). The performance management revolution. Harvard Business Review, 94(10), 58-67.
Murphy, K. R., & Cleveland, J. N. (1995). Understanding performance appraisal: Social, organizational, and goal-based perspectives. Sage Publications, Inc.
Pulakos, E. D., Hanson, R. M., Arad, S., & Moye, N. (2015). Performance management can be fixed: An on-the-job experiential learning approach for complex behavior change. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8(1), 51-76.
Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster.
Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup. Crown Business.
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass.