Failure is not an option

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "Failure is not an option" many times before. There is a book entitled "Failure Is Not An Option" about education reform, and another "Failure Is Not An Option" about the space program and a statement said during the Apollo 13 mission.

However, as most of us know not only is failure an option, but it is a real path that happens all the time. In his blog, Alexander Kjerulf writes that the failure is not an option mantra needs to go and get replaced by "Failure happens. Deal with it."

I have a different point of view. I say that not only does failure happen, but we should be looking to fail as frequently and as quickly as possible ... my intention is to "Fail Forward Fast" I don't know who I heard that from (maybe Peter Drucker), but it stuck. Success doesn't usually come in a straight line. It is usually littered with many failures. We don't learn to walk and talk the first time we try ... so why should other things come so easily.

I say failure with gusto. If you are not failing you are not trying hard enough. The key is to increase your cycle time. To increase the speed at which you can fail so you can quickly try something else. "Fail Forward Slow" is an excruciating path that you don't want to be on.

In the "Book of 5 Rings", the author (an old world Samurai) has to deal with failure (in his world death) on a consistent basis. Not only is he not afraid to die, he actually seeks it out. He doesn't make decisions out of fear of failing. He just makes decisions based on how to live ... failures or not. And that is where you and I want to be ... looking for failure ... expecting it ... pushing for it ... pushing our limits so we get the chance to fail ... and then ... of all things ... when failure is not only just an option but a probability ... we'll find success.

See you on the wire

Steven