Fail Forward
Emmy Koeleman
Freelance editor, storyteller, science writer, subject matter expert, and moderator in the areas: animal nutrition, animal health and agtech.
I recently watched the tv-series WeCrashed, which follows the true story of WeWork's rise and fall. WeWork focuses on shared coworking spaces with elaborate (failed) perks to experiment with gyms and a private school. The company is the brainchild of Israeli billionaire Adam Neumann.?
Neumann recently announced the birth of a new StartUp company - nearly three years after he stepped down as CEO of WeWork following a failed attempt to take the company public and a suit of unacceptable behaviour (although he walked away with an exit package reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars).
His new start-up called Flow seeks to revolutionize the residential housing industry. Part of Flow is Flowcarbon, a ‘side company’ focused on storing carbon credits on the blockchain, also involving Neuman’s wife Rebekah. However, this side project was put on pause quite soon after the launch and is waiting for the carbon credit to stabilize (whatever stabilization of prices means in a relatively new business).?
Some say that Adam Neumann is a typical example of Fail Forward, an expression that translates into: not taking failures as major setbacks, but instead, considering them as opportunities to move forward towards your ultimate success.?The 2 words are contradictive, which sparks a little confusion in your brain. But that is what makes it interesting! (tip: use contradictions when you think of a book or article title).
The definition of Fail Forward comes across as being a positive thing. And I am sure a lot of people can relate to it somehow, depending on the type of person or business your are in. For example: You made a bad choice career wise, but you learned from it. You invested in crypto’s, but took the wrong route. You learned from it. You wrote a book, but nobody bought it. You learned from it. You took over the family farm, but it was too hard. You learned from it.
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In the global livestock sector, the area I work in, Fail Forward also applies. The failures made are opportunities to do things better for farmers, animals and the planet! A few examples:
Going back to the housing industry that Adam Neuman is obsessed with. I am not too sure about Neumann’s Fail Forward success and how it will proceed (again). But I guess there is no limit to how many Fail Forwards -?or learnings in life - you are supposed to have, right? How many Fail Forwards do you find acceptable? And when is a (small) mistake a failure? Also, some people have a higher likeability factor than others when it comes to failures.
Like before, there is a chance that we see Neumann fail and step down as the CEO of Flow and start something new again. Flow might turn into ‘FlowFailure’, which in turn could be a great possible sequel to WeCrashed. It will be juicy TV again for sure. So, bring out the popcorn! ??