Anxiety is prevalent among people due to concerns such as climate change, AI, and burnout, leading individuals to focus more on personal well-being rather than team or organizational health. This individual focus can lead to organizations getting trapped in responding to issues in isolation, creating a potential for erosion and vicious cycles. The speaker notes the importance of a holistic approach in organizations, mentioning a lack of evidence of companies pausing to consider their value proposition, structure, and leadership to ensure necessary work is done.
We all know Silicon Valley’s mantra: fail fast, fail often. But when is it OK to fail in the real world?
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson says it depends on how and why you fail. She’s an expert on psychological safety and the author of the book, Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.
In this episode, she explains the difference between good and bad types of failures. One has to do with experimentation, while the other is rooted in inattention or lack of training. Edmondson also explores the downsides of not experimenting enough because your team fears failure.
Key episode topics include: strategy, psychology, business failures, psychological safety, experimentation.
HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.
· Watch the original HBR New World of Work episode: It's OK to Fail, but You Have to Do It Right (2023)
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