In life or business, failure is the most valuable form of learning in life. The sting of failure is a long term reminder that drives us to future success. The act of failing helps us understand our ultimate limits as well as the limits of the team performing the work on a daily basis.
Sitting in my office under my high efficiency LED lighting, the value of failure becomes increasingly clear. Thomas Edison cycle of failure in the development of the incandescent light is legendary and displays a level of persistence that is likely unable to be afforded in today’s economy.
Make failure an advantage by planning small but relevant tests into the start of future projects. Small pilots for the final change. Make the affects of tests manageable with the wins able to give insights into the future and the failures such that they provide an equivalent amount of insight into how to make the outcome even better.
Failure does not need to be actual nor does it have to take long periods of time. The technology today allows projects to be simulated in a virtual reality space where scenarios can occur in a matter of minutes rather than days or weeks. There is a cost to failure, make sure that you only pay the cost once and be sure to take the time to learn from it. Above all, make sure that each failure so you can learn something new each time