HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives (with bonus article "The Rise of the Chief Project Officer" by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez)

Increase Your Return on Failure

by Julian Birkinshaw and Martine Haas

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT—and most deeply entrenched—reasons why established companies struggle to grow is fear of failure. Indeed, in a 2015 Boston Consulting Group survey, 31% of respondents identified a risk-averse culture as a key obstacle to innovation.

Senior executives are highly aware of this problem. On one hand, they recognize the usefulness of failure. As 3M’s legendary chairman William McKnight once said, “The best and hardest work is done in the spirit of adventure and challenge.... Mistakes will be made.” Pixar’s president, Ed Catmull, has a similar point of view. “Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil,” he has said. “They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable ...