Unfortunately, but predictably, most DE&I programs fail. But what if we had a better relationship with failure that allowed us to make sustained improvement?
Principles of intelligent failure offer a framework for embracing small but transformative changes, writes Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson in her new best-selling book, “The Right Kind of Wrong.”
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Edmonson, who has been a guest on the video series “System Overload,” lists four conditions of intelligent failure:
- Venturing into new, uncertain territories
- Being opportunity-driven
- Leveraging existing knowledge through a hypothesis-driven method
- Making small, calculated risks akin to “small bets”
By resetting our outlook on failure as experiments—a game strategy rather than a sport of blame—individuals at all levels can take meaningful, incremental steps toward diversity, equity and inclusion.
Edmondson offers three types of failure: complex, basic and intelligent. Complex failures include multiple system breakdowns; basic failures involve mistakes that are generally preventable (e.g., human error); while intelligent failures are praiseworthy because they produce insight and risk little (e.g., experiments).