1) The document discusses how embracing failure and risk-taking is important for creativity and innovation. It cites research showing that allowing mistakes and learning from them leads to better solutions over time. 2) It also discusses the work of Carol Dweck, who found that having a growth mindset, seeing abilities as something that can be developed rather than inherent, is important for achieving potential. Having this mindset is influenced by how one views failure. 3) For organizations to be truly innovative, they need an environment where people feel safe taking risks and failing, and where failures that lead to learning are accepted and even celebrated.

1. Embracing Failure
By Andrew tan
“Kids will take a chance. If stigmatize failure, and error- that survey it was found that the
they don’t know, they will have a eliminating programs that are number one hindrance towards
go…they are not frightened of being introduced into having a more innovative
being wrong. I don’t mean to say multinational corperations such as organization was a risk-averse
that being wrong is being creative. Six Sigma. Don’t get me wrong, culture.
But what we do know is that if I’m not promoting total anarchy
you are not prepared to be wrong, where the same failures are Logically it makes sense that
you will never come up with repeated over and over again for the creation of anything new
anything original.” - Sir Ken without any consequences, or original there is always an
Robinson. because in all things there needs element of risk involved, and with
to be a balance. However, in this risk comes the chance for failure.
This is just one of many day and age our culture is leaning This is all fine and well but is
quotes out there on how fear of more towards one that is there any scientific evidence or
failure and fear of risk-taking will governed by fear of trying and of are there any cold hard facts to
totally squash creativity from an taking risk. Don’t believe me? show that taking risk, making
individual or an organization. Take a look at last year’s mistakes and learning from
This risk-averse culture is now BusinessWeek and Boston mistakes have any effect on
more prevalent than ever thanks Consulting Group’s annual survey innovation and creativity?
to educational systems that on innovation and creativity. In
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2. Embracing Failure
continued...
By Andrew Tan
The answer is yes. Professor Tom Ormerod from
Lancaster University did one such study. In his In the end maybe what we all need to do is to
research he found that people who are not only embrace Mark Twain’s quote:
allowed to make mistakes but who actually make
mistakes earlier on and learn from them, will “Twenty years from now you will be more
eventually come up with better and more creative disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by
solutions to a problem. Consider further what Carol the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
Dweck, a Stanford psychology professor, has to say away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in
about mindset and achieving one’s true potential. your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
According to her, the reasons some people achieve
their true potential while equally talented people do
not, isn’t about ability. Instead it is about whether a
person looks at ability as something inherent that
needs to be demonstrated or as something external
that can be developed. Dweck has shown that people
with the latter belief are the people that achieve
their true potential. Also according to her, how a
person views ability is affected by a person’s view of
failure - whether a person views failure as an
opportunity to learn and improve or views it as
something that tarnishes one’s image. So in an
organization that only celebrates successes while
failures are looked down upon and scorned at
instead of being viewed as opportunities for
learning, could potentially not be maximizing its
employees’ potential.
Therefore, for an organization or team that
wishes to be truly innovative or creative, an
environment where people feel safe to take risks and
fail is a pre-requisite. An environment where it is
acceptable to fail and learn from the failures is a
must (repeating the previous fact?). In fact, having a
safe environment might not be enough. It might
need to go to the extent where failures that are
followed by learnings are not only accepted but
celebrated.
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