Fear of failure as the root of all evil

Fear of failure frequently emerges when companies imply that every misstep will be punished, which prompts employees to play it safe and avoid risking potential blame. Conroy (2001) provided foundational insights into this phenomenon by developing a psychological scale to measure fear of failure, showing how people often hold back their most inventive ideas if they sense that a flawed attempt might harm their standing.

One prominent example arises from Boeing, where mounting pressure to outpace Airbus allegedly discouraged some engineers from flagging concerns over the 737 Max. Kitroeff and Gelles (2019) reported in The New York Times that ??some employees said they felt enormous pressure and a sense of urgency to get planes out on time, which sometimes made it harder to voice warnings.?? Competitive haste and fear of falling behind can prevent vital feedback from surfacing before problems escalate. The fear of potential backlash for delaying production schedules overshadowed the necessity to scrutinize safety features more rigorously.

Another instructive case appears in Nokia’s struggle to adapt during the smartphone revolution. Kish-Gephart, Detert, Trevino, and Edmondson (2009) warn that employees often remain silent if they suspect their input will not be welcomed, a finding that resonates with Nokia’s downfall. Gibbs (2014) wrote in The Guardian that ??several insiders felt that leadership discouraged radical ideas in order to protect Nokia’s existing phone lines, leaving the company flat-footed when touchscreen smartphones took off.?? Fear from employees of championing changes that might fail, especially as they threatened current products, led to Nokia’s ultimate market decline.

Fostering psychological safety, as examined by Edmondson (1999), can counteract this dynamic by reframing mistakes as catalysts for learning. Polaroid’s experience offers a cautionary tale of what happens when that openness is lacking. As noted by Rothman (2012) in The New Yorker ??employees who saw the promise of digital photography sometimes chose not to push for change, unsure whether the higher-ups would see it as a distraction from profitable instant film sales.?? Although many at Polaroid recognized the looming shift to digital, the worry that a new direction could fail weakened their case for timely innovation.

The impact of leadership behavior is a theme explored by Bledow, Carette, Kuhnel, and Bister (2017) in their research on how humility helps teams productively address failure. At Toyota, some insiders were hesitant to expose product flaws before the large-scale recalls of 2009-2010. Klayman and Kim (2010) reported that ??documents showed how issues identified as potential safety problems were downplayed or delayed, with staff citing concerns about how recalls might damage the brand or jeopardize internal careers.?? This reluctance to raise alarms reflects how the fear of being blamed can overshadow the goal of preventing bigger crises.

Tripsas and Gavetti (2000) underscored in their work that fear of disrupting profitable legacy operations can feed organizational inertia. Blockbuster embodied this reality when the rise of online streaming started to threaten the traditional video-rental model. Lyons (2019) wrote in The New York Times that ??Blockbuster’s leaders delayed pushing an online alternative, anxious about cannibalizing revenue from retail stores. By the time they realized the scale of the shift, Netflix had already taken the lead.?? Here, fear of upending a successful short-term strategy curbed experimentation, eventually causing Blockbuster to lose ground in a rapidly changing market.

Developing an atmosphere of positive management, rooted in honest dialogue and support, naturally leads to trustful leadership where employees dare to try new approaches and speak up about potential pitfalls. When organizations create a space in which team members feel supported, a sense of belonging replaces the fear of making mistakes, and growth accelerates because people become comfortable exploring fresh perspectives. A calm and trusting mindset shared by employees, management, and leadership can lead to new heights of creativity and innovation, paving the way for smoother collaboration, clearer decision-making, and deeper harmony across the board.

References:

Bledow, R., Carette, B., Kuhnel, J. and Bister, D. (2017) Learning from Failure and Success: The Moderating Role of Leader Humility and Team Reflection. Academy of Management Journal, 60(4), pp.1362-1389. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0103

Conroy, D. E. (2001) Progress in the Development of a Measure to Assess Fear of Failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(4), pp.715-726. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.715

Edmondson, A. C. (1999) Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), pp.350-383. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Kish-Gephart, J. J., Detert, J. R., Trevino, L. K. and Edmondson, A. C. (2009) Silenced by Fear: The Nature, Sources, and Consequences of Fear at Work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 29, pp.163-193. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2009.06.002

Tripsas, M. and Gavetti, G. (2000) Capabilities, Cognition, and Inertia: Evidence from Digital Imaging. Strategic Management Journal, 21(10/11), pp.1147-1161. Available at: https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/00-067_cdcafdf1-d946-44ec-96ad-558ad606477d.pdf

Gibbs, S. (2014) Nokia’s fall: The inside story. The Guardian, 27 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/27/nokias-fall-the-inside-story

Klayman, B. and Kim, H.J. (2010) Toyota gave inaccurate data to Congress for 2007 recall. Reuters, 9 May. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-toyota-idUSTRE6483SJ20100510

Kitroeff, N. and Gelles, D. (2019) Boeing Was a ??Go, Go, Go?? to Beat Airbus With the 737 Max. The New York Times, 8 December. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/business/boeing-737-max.html

Lyons, D. (2019) Inside the Fall of Blockbuster. The New York Times, 31 August. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/business/blockbuster-netflix.html

Rothman, A. (2012) Polaroid’s Past as the Future. The New Yorker, 6 March. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/polaroids-past-as-the-future