Kathy's boss threw a party to celebrate the value of a failed project. He ended up giving us a bonus. It only solidified that culture that he was already creating. If you punish people for failing, they will do everything in their power to try to convince themselves and others that their project is not a failure. We don't need to celebrate failure. We just need to normalize it.
In life and work, we have a hard time changing course. When we wind up in a miserable job, a failing project, or a floundering romantic relationship, we rationalize, make excuses, and stick with our bad decisions—even when the writing's on the wall. Why? Usually we assume the driving force is sunk costs: we don't want to admit we've wasted that time or money. But in fact, the root of our stubbornness is a psychological trap called “escalation of commitment.” Once we understand that, we can start taking steps to protect ourselves from… well, ourselves. This is an episode of WorkLife with Adam Grant, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. For more episodes, find and follow WorkLife wherever you're listening to this.