Fearing failure may be universal. However, many philosophers regard failing to be necessary for growth. In Japan, for example, broken pottery is mended with strong bamboo resin. As the weakest part of the pot has broken and has been mended, the pot is deemed stronger. The breakage scars are decorated with gold to showcase the fractures as visual evidence of the pot’s strength and unique beauty.

Why we tend to avoid failure

Fearing failure is embedded in our physiology and psychology. When we achieve goals, we’re awarded by happy hormones, while our failures are followed by negative emotions. Through these emotional signals, our physiology makes us avoid failure.

It’s also embedded in our psyche. During infancy, failing to please the primary caregiver is akin to toying with your life. Infants wholly depend on their caregivers for their survival, and there’s an intuitive fear that failure in this regard can lead to abandonment, putting your life in jeopardy.

As we develop and mature, fears of survival subside but they’re never relinquished. Like our instinctive flight, fight, or freeze responses, a stress response accompanies any anticipated failure.

Additionally, there's cultural indoctrination against losing. Since childhood, sports and educational assessments are polarised between success and failure, with condemnation for failing that reinforces deep-seated fears of failure.

Failure in business

As people transition from home- and school-life to work-life, the fear of failure from their formative years stays with them. The business world is different, however.

In South Africa, up to 70% or more of startups fail, and well-established organisations fail to incorporate changes up to 60% of the time. The international statistics are similar, which proves that businesses are littered with the debris of failure.

Yet, not only do many businesses survive, they thrive.

Failure then, is in fact a vital experience along the journey of business success, and a mindset of fearing failure is misaligned with its potential positive effect.

Management studies have increasingly incorporated “failing” into their models and frameworks, and they show that rewards for failing are subject to a few important specifics:

1. Resilience

Some failures are more manageable than others. Resilience is a test of whether the business can withstand the unexpected outcomes of failing.

2. Gaining experiential knowledge

After a failure, an investigation of the reasons helps to develop specific know-how.

3. Feedback loops

The know-how gained is leveraged to tweak plans accordingly.

4. Courage

Having the risk appetite to experiment again until success.

Many examples of the above exist in business cases. KFC’s Colonel Sanders is famous for 1009 failures under his belt before he eventually succeeded in commercialising his secret recipe. J.K. Rowling had 12 of her major publications rejected and SpaceX saw four (exceptionally expensive) launch failures.

However, we can’t drive a few blocks without seeing a KFC-franchised outlet today, Harry Potter books – and movies – are read and watched by children and adults across the world, and as of May 2023, SpaceX has seen a launch success rate of 97.4%. These successes are not on account of never failing.

Cultivating a No-Fear-of-Failing Culture

To start enjoying success from failure, organisational leaders firstly need to conquer their fear of failing. Each failing experience demands a conscious response to lean on a philosophy that supports failing, such as the belief that seeds of happiness, growth and success are sown in the fractures that are caused by failing.

Additionally, it’s necessary to start letting go of the protective habit of avoiding negative emotions, but not bottling them up either – instead, finding suitable outlets or seeking support to subdue any negative emotions.

Leaders also need to be mentally prepared that things will not always go to plan and that results will differ from those anticipated.

Armed with ways to cope with failings, leaders can start to lower the fear of failing for group members by changing the culture around it. By lowering the formal (promotions, pay rises, passing on of costs for failing, etc.) and informal (treatment within the group, scapegoating, mockery, etc.) consequences of failing for group members, an experimental mentality, with an acceptance of experiments going wrong, can be adopted.

However, akin to controlled wildfires, it’s also necessary to ensure that experimenting does not sabotage the organisation. By containing the impact sphere of the consequences of failing through departmental, time and other boundaries, the burn-zone can be managed.

An experimenting mentality is like intentionally breaking pots to identify their weakest parts to strengthen and beautify them. Only at the breaking point – or failure – are weaknesses identified, so that mending and strengthening can happen.

Failings and fractures are worthy of being decorated with gold, and any missing pieces being replaced with precious stones. Like it adds value to a Japanese piece of pottery, failings can add value to an organisation.