When is a failure a success?
I ask this question when working with leadership teams all the time.
It’s a timely lesson as last Thursday, SpaceX’s STARSHIP inaugural rocket launch ended in what their engineers describe as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (I can already imagine the memes for this term).
“Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson tweeted after the test.
Success comes from what we learn in our mistakes. The lessons should help us recognize the signs prior to repeating the same mistake. Failures teach us how to manage stress and still operate as an empathetic and capable leader, using the example as a ‘teaching moment’.
And in the best-case scenario, the post-mistake review may uncover new ideas, change models or methods or help us improve our businesses.
NASA tested their Saturn rockets over 100 times before they were satisfied with their reliability and safety for the astronauts who would eventually walk on the moon. I wonder, would you (as a leader) allow your teams to fail in order to succeed later?
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