logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2024
36m 34s

How to Fail Right

Harvard Business Review
About this episode

We all know Silicon Valley’s mantra: fail fast, fail often. But when is it OK to fail in the real world?

Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson says it depends on how and why you fail. She’s an expert on psychological safety and the author of the book, Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.

In this episode, she explains the difference between good and bad types of failures. One has to do with experimentation, while the other is rooted in inattention or lack of training. Edmondson also explores the downsides of not experimenting enough because your team fears failure.

Key episode topics include: strategy, psychology, business failures, psychological safety, experimentation.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR New World of Work episode: It's OK to Fail, but You Have to Do It Right (2023)

· Find more episodes of the New World of Work series on YouTube

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Up next
Jun 2025
An Announcement from HBR On Strategy
For the last two years, HBR On Strategy has been a collection of the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. But the time has come for HBR On Strategy to hit pause on new episodes. We ... Show More
1m 5s
Jun 2025
The Strategic Advantage of Tapping Freelancers
The rapid pace of technological change is making a big impact on hiring. Some organizations are dynamically securing freelance workers through platform apps like Upwork and Freelancer. Other companies are investing heavily in work enabled by artificial intelligence. John Winsor a ... Show More
30m 26s
Jun 2025
The Promises, Pitfalls, and Trade-offs of the Circular Economy
Most businesses are built on a linear model: take, make, and discard. But that norm is reaching its limits, and leaders are under pressure to find smarter, more sustainable ways to operate. Weslynne Ashton is a systems scientist and professor at the Illinois Institute of Technolo ... Show More
20m 36s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2024
How to Fail Better (from Fail Better with David Duchovny)
<p>To be human is to fail — period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it — e ... Show More
53m 16s
Aug 11
Why Failure Is Your Best Growth Hack | Bathroom Break #68 🚽
Most of your marketing is going to fail. And that’s not a problem…unless you pretend it didn’t. Daniel and Jay get honest about falling on your face and getting back up again. Jay breaks down how even “successful” metrics, like a 47% open rate, are still rooted in failure and why ... Show More
11m 17s
Jan 2024
663: How to Grow From Your Errors, with Amy Edmondson
Amy Edmondson: Right Kind of Wrong Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, where she studies people and organizations seeking to make a positive difference in the world through the work they do. She has pioneered the c ... Show More
39m 30s
Nov 2018
You Are Going To Fail
<p><strong>How To Eliminate Hesitation And Avoidance And Get Into Bold Action Now</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re like most people, you don’t like failing. Or mistakes, awkward moments, rejections, or any other “undesired outcome.” However, ... Show More
25m 42s
Oct 21
345. How to fall in love with failure
We think of failure as a terrible thing or something to be avoided. But when you learn to fall in love with failure, a whole new level of growth occurs that will have you seeing progress faster than ever. In our 20s, the so called failure-decade, we talk about how you can learn t ... Show More
38m 38s
Feb 2025
Why you should get good at being bad | Fixable
<p>This is an episode of Fixable, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective. </p><br><p>Sometimes the only way to win is by finding the courage to lose. This week on Fixable, Anne and Frances want you to “dare to be bad” in order to free up capacity to excel at more important ... Show More
25m 35s
Jul 2024
How to Embrace Ambiguity When Making Decisions
Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another—but that doesn’t always need to be the case. Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis argue that leaders should move beyond “either/or” choices and try to come up with solutions that embrace ambiguity and paradox. In this ... Show More
27m 30s
Sep 25
Nerd Alert: Do Most New Products Really Fail?
Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.In this episode, Elena and Rob challenge the common myth ... Show More
9m 24s