The Silver Lining to Failing

All of us make mistakes, some big some small, so we should all be able to relate to what comes below. There is an old saying, "There's no success like failure". This sounds counter-intuitive, but is it really?

Let’s go through an example. I would like you all to take the simple test below. Then pause for a bit and listen to your instinct and take a note of it.

The Test

Look at the series of letters below and identify the numbered letter listed in the next column. Try to do as many as you can in 10 seconds.

String	Spot This Numbered Letter	Write Your Answers Here†
NNNNN	3
III1I	3
111II	4
MMMNM	4
NMMNM	4
NNMNN	1
NNNMN	5
MMMMN	4
WWWWV	4
VWWVV	5
MMMMM	1
MMNMM	4
NNMNN	3
VVVVV	5
WWWWW	3

Did you get them all? Now that you’ve done the test, pause and listen to what your instincts are telling you to do—are they asking you to take the test again? Do you want to give yourself one more shot to see if you could do better because you just know that you’ll improve the second time?

Scientist did this same experiment with a group of people who were wearing hats with electrodes on them to measure the brains electro-encephalographs (EEGs) right after completing the test to find out how they’d faired. They uncovered two astounding facts:

·         Almost all individuals had very similar looking EEG’s which showed two distinct activity zones: an almost instantaneous “error-related negativity” (ERN) which occurred after 50msec of realizing the mistake and occurs almost involuntarily. This is the “Oh crud!” signal. The second signal, which is known as error positivity (Pe), arrives somewhere between 100 to 500 milliseconds after the failure and it occurs when we pay attention to the error and dwell on the disappointment.

·        

hThe more interesting observation was that subjects that learn much more effectively are ones who’s EEG demonstrated (1) a larger ERN signal, suggesting a more potent initial response to the mistake and (2) a more consistent Pe signal, which means they were focusing on the failure and trying to learn from it.

As I pondered this, I asked myself--if we are wired to be reflective as individuals, do we always exhibit this behavior while working in groups, teams and organizations? Have we institutionalized retrospectives as part of every initiative, whether we succeed or fail? If not, in the spirit of this research, shouldn't we learn something from it (i.e. prolong the "Pe" phase) and institutionalize retrospectives across the board?

I am also cognizant of the pushback which would suggest that we can't always be driving looking at the rearview mirror, but don’t we agree that taking some time to evaluate why a product launch was delayed, a release botched, a customer account lost, or a competitive threat ignored--by making introspection a habit, will make us better professionals. As George Santayana aptly says “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

In fact every time, when the outcome doesn’t meet the anticipated, we should be doing a quick look back to understand the underlying reasons. Even at organizations that seem to be extremely successful and seem to be hitting one home run after another (such as our neighbor in Cupertino) there is an internal culture of failing fast or failing often. The conventional wisdom says that only large corporations with deep pockets can afford the "luxury" of failing fast or failing often, but I have seen many counterpoints to that wisdom as well. Recently, I came across a small gaming company of 12 based in Finland that seemed to have produced two wildly successful games, both of which reached the top of the iTunes charts within record time. This small group is making $500K per week selling just 2 games. In an interview in front of audience at an international gaming conference the CEO revealed a secret: the company had nixed a few dozen projects before these two games were released. He went on to say that he'd allow anyone with a compelling idea to virtually create an autonomous team within the company that had the full decision making authority on what the game would be and when and how it'll be released. The only time a higher level decision body intervened was when the prototype was readied. Clearly, failing fast is a "strategy" even at small start-ups. 

And this brings me back to Bob Dylan's lyrics, "There is no success like failure". If we believe that now, then in the words of another famed luminary who co-founded the tenants on 1 Infinity Loop, let us "stay foolish and stay hungry". 

Have a great weekend!