What's your attitude when it comes to experiencing setbacks and failure in life? Does the fear of failure paralyze you, preventing your from tackling new, ambitious goals? When you experience a failure, do you curl up in the fetal position and rock back and forth for three months while listening to your favorite blues album, or do you view it as a learning experience and jump back onto the proverbial horse?
How does your team and organization manage failure? How an organization views and manages failure has a profound impact on its culture and its ability to innovate. Which is why the leaders at Pixar Studios spend a lot of time thinking about failure. Following up on last week's look at Pixar's innovative culture, here are a few insights on how Pixar views failure, from the book, Creativity, Inc.:
Leaders in an organization must be open about their own failures to create a climate where people aren't afraid to fail.
Assess how people react to failure: Do they turn inward and use it as a learning experience, or do they seek to blame others?
When experimentation is seen as necessary and productive, not as a waste of time, people enjoy their work more and fear failure less.
Embrace the idea that every failure brings you one step closer to a better idea.
Take a scientific approach to failure and remember that even negative findings are valuable.
The concept of aiming for "zero failures" when undertaking a creative endeavor is counterproductive.
Leaders must uncouple fear from failure; one of the number one antidotes to fear of failure is trust.
When you embark on an innovative project, leaders need to send the message that they expect failures along the way.
Avoid the mindset of "We failed so we did something wrong" and the mindset "We succeeded so we did everything right." Neither is necessarily true nor helpful when reviewing a project.
When it comes to the role of failure in the creative process, failure isn't a necessary evil, it's necessary!
Mike's Fun at Work Tip
Yes, it's a bit goofy, but a very simple way to break up any meeting and give attendees a bit of a stretch is to do the old stadium group wave around the table or, at larger events, the entire room. You can set a timer to do it at regular intervals, or link it to something, for example, whenever anyone says the "buzzword of the day" someone starts the wave.
Quote of the Week
"Never
be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke
of the century." Joan Rivers (1933-2014)
It's a Wacky World
Looking for a new job? Please take the time to reread what you've written on your résumé so you don't make these real-life blunders:
- "Thank-you for your time. Hope to hear from you shorty!"
- "In my next life I will be a rabbi or backup dancer, but for now I am attacking my résumé."
- "I enjoy working with customers, and my pleasant demeanor helps them feel comfortable and relaxed - not afraid."
- "My mother delivered me without anesthesia, so I have an IQ of 146 and can learn anything."
- "I conducted many office affairs in the absence of the president."
