The Wisdom of Failure: Growing from our Personal and Professional Setbacks

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Today’s episode is all about failure – I know that doesn’t sound like a particularly sunny way to begin an episode, but stick with me.

My guest today, Dr. Larry Weinzimmer, argues that failure is not just an inevitability in business and leadership — it is often the primary source of meaningful growth and long-term success. Importantly, he argues that this is true at both a personal and organization level.

In our conversation today we discuss how those who are achievement oriented often have a hard time digesting this reality, how bosses and Boards of Directors can create environments where failure is tolerated but not necessarily actively encouraged, the role that egos tend to play in organizational failures, what a good post-mortem and pre-mortem sounds like, what “learning” from a failure actually looks like at a highly tactical level, why success can breed over-confidence and blind spots (including how to spot common warning signs in advance), and how to balance the importance of persistence with the wisdom of knowing when it’s time to make a change.