The Innovation Formula

CHAPTER 11 RISK-TAKING Failing for success

In Apollo 13, the 1995 movie about the ill-fated moon landing mission, NASA Flight Director Gene Krantz (played by Ed Harris), is talking to his team about the necessity of finding a way to preserve energy in the space shuttle. Members of the team are telling him that there are only enough amps to power the shuttle for 16 hours. Krantz responds by telling the team that they have never lost an American in space and they are not going to lose one under his watch. ‘Failure is not an option', Harris memorably states. And while Krantz never actually said this line in real life, it stuck with him and became the title of his autobiography five years later.

The notion of failure being unacceptable is one I have found resonates with many organisations. Failure is generally thought of as a dirty word, and something that gets swept under the carpet when it does rear its ugly head. But being able to acknowledge and learn from failure is a huge part of building a culture where risk-taking is tolerated, and it is a concept that Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is very familiar with.

EWB is a not-for-profit organisation that supports social innovations that can help end global poverty and inequality. Its projects include the Run to End Poverty event, which is a fundraiser for various projects; Rent to Own, which makes it possible for entrepreneurs in rural Zambia to own new equipment through making regular ‘rental' payments over a period of time; ...