Fail Better: Design Smart Mistakes and Succeed Sooner

CHAPTER 1

Failures Are Inevitable

Failure is the new black. Blog posts and articles extol its virtues. Venerated CEOs, famous celebrities, and star athletes tell come-from-behind stories of horrible setbacks that led to happy endings. Accounts of success extracted from the jaws of failure are part of business lore: think of the marketing and product development legends about Post-it Notes, Apple products, Viagra, and New Coke. Today, a growing collection of books advises business leaders to adopt pro-failure philosophies. Entrepreneurs and would-be executives polish their “failure résumés,” nonprofits issue failure reports, companies throw parties to celebrate their flops, and industry groups organize fail fairs. Every year scores of graduation ...