Chapter 10: How We Want to Fail

We have a saying around the office, "Another miss!" We say it anytime one of us makes...another miss.

We don’t do it to minimize the impact of a mistake or to make people feel bad when they make one. It’s our way of normalizing the fact that mistakes happen and counteracting the instinct to run or hide or blame.

Because failure can be scary. It can sound like “You’re a disappointment” or “You’re not good enough.” But we think failure can be a starting point—or a stepping stone.

It all comes down to how we fail.

We can fail in a way that looks like self-preservation and saving face. We hide and blame. We complain instead of seeking solutions. Or we try to do it all by ourselves.

Or we can fail in a way that looks like trying new things, even when we’re not sure they’ll work. Taking risks, but not reckless ones. Letting others know what we’re doing so they can learn, too. And then—if it doesn’t work out—asking ourselves what we learned and how we can grow.

Failing this way is one of our Core Values at Open Book. It's called “Say It, Do It, Learn From It.” Simply put, it's being people of our word and people who follow through. But it also has to do with evaluating how things went—including what could have gone better.

That happens with success. It also happens with failure. We see both as an opportunity to own our actions and learn from them. And build from there.

When we fail this way, it can actually make us better. Failure becomes a learning moment or a data point.

Or even a step forward.