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If the size of your failures isnt growing youre not going to be inventing at a size that can actually move the needle. Jeff Bezoss wordswritten in a 2019 letter to shareholderssuggest a more clear-eyed view of the innovation process than the paradoxical perspectives of many other senior executives. Oh sure, CEOs agree that innovation is important. In fact, 92% say its a top priority, according to a recent McKinsey article. But at the same time, more than 90% of CEOs say they do a lousy job at innovation. The reason for this confusing response can be boiled down to one major point, alluded to by Bezos: Fear of failure. Yes, fear of failureand wariness of the mixed messages they get from management. You cant expect people to take risks, challenge the status quo, and explore new ways of doing things when you measure them on hitting near-term targets with near-perfect accuracy. Innovation requires curiosity, experimentation, and learningthe trifecta I call, try, fail, learn. Inevitably, projects will fail; people will fail, too. Its normal, and its high time we normalized it in business. Below are five ways you can put meaningful metrics in place to incentivize healthy risk-taking and smart failure in your organization. 1. Start Small: Create Rituals That Normalize Failure Changing culture starts with small, visible experiments that make failure feel safe, expected, and even energizing. One of the simplest and most effective practices Ive implemented is what I call Fail-Free Fridays. These are dedicated 60-minute blocks of time where teams meet weekly to talk about whats not working and share ideas about things they want to try. No PowerPoints. No success criteria. No approvals. The goal isnt to solve the problems or produce a breakthrough; its to openly discuss whats not going well and experiment with new ideas. Without fear. How to make it measurable: Track the number of problems discussed Track the number of ideas generated Track self-reported psychological safety (before and after) Track cross-functional collaborations initiated during these sessions 2. Define What a ‘Good Failure’ Looks Like Not all failure is equal: Experimental failure is necessary for learning and invention, whereas operational failure is due to poor execution, lack of discipline, or not following processes and procedures. Help your team by painting a picture of what good failure looks like. Find a recent example and do a post-mortem analysis by showing how the initiative: Was aligned with strategic priorities Was based on a clear hypothesis Was a controlled experiment with defined parameters Produced a documented learning Informed future decisions The next step is to measure the proportion of failures that meet these criteria. Sample metrics might include: % of failed projects with clear hypotheses % of failed projects that produced specific, documented learnings Estimated resource savings from ideas invalidated early Time saved by early no-go decisions compared to traditional project lifecycles 3. Reward Learning Behaviors, Not Just Outcomes Traditional performance reviews reward outcomes: sales targets met, product launches delivered, efficiency increased. These metrics reinforce predictabilitywhich is essential for operations but corrosive to innovation. To incentivize smart failure, organizations must introduce behavior-based performance metrics tied to learning and experimentation. Examples include: Number of experiments initiated or proposed Willingness to challenge outdated assumptions or raise contrarian ideas Speed of testing a new ideahow quickly a team can test, learn, and adapt Cross-functional collaboration and knowledge-sharing One technique Ive used is integrating a Learning Objectives section into performance goals. Employees must identify one or two areas where they will experiment, explore, or test new approachesand leaders evaluate how intentionally and transparently they learn from the results. Behavior-based metrics shift attention from Did you succeed? to How did you learn, and what value did that learning create? 4. Build Transparency Into the System: Share Failures Publicly with Leaders as Role Models For failure to be normalized, it must be visible and leaders must be role models showing how it leads to learning and growth. Examples of transparency-building mechanisms: Town Hall or All Hands Meetings where the leader dedicates 15 minutes of the agenda to allow an employee to share a story of failure and learning (leaders can share their stories, too) Monthly Lessons Learned Roundtables where teams briefly share one failed experiment and one insight A digital Failure Dashboard highlighting experiments run, hypotheses tested, learnings extracted, and next steps Internal newsletters profiling teams who tried something bold, failed smart, and moved the organization forward Metrics here can include: Number of learnings shared across business units Participation rates in roundtables or learning forums Cross-team adoption of insights Repeat failure rate (a powerful metricif it decreases, organizational learning is improving) 5. Make Failure Economically Visible: Track the ROI of Learning We talk a lot about Return on Investment (ROI) of new projects. Similarly, the most important, and most neglected step is quantifying the Return on Failure (ROF). Leaders know that invalidating a bad idea quickly is just as valuable as scaling a good idea. In many cases, its more valuable. Early failure prevents wasted resources, prevents misaligned investments, and accelerates strategic focus. Organizations can track: Cost savings from early project termination Time-to-decision (how fast the organization can rule in or rule out an idea) Increase in pipeline throughput (better quality ideas lead to more opportunities making it to market) Portfolio health metrics (percentage of projects in exploratory vs. execution mode) The Cultural Shift: From Fear to Learning and Growth The goal is not to create a workplace where failure is unbounded or unexamined. The goal is to create a workplace where learning is measured, rewarded, and operationalized. When failure is treated as datanot deficiencyorganizations accelerate innovation, attract bolder thinkers, and build resilience into their strategy. They become more adaptive, mre opportunistic, and more capable of navigating uncertainty. Leaders who want sustained growth dont ask, How do we avoid failure? They ask, How do we create more opportunities to learnand how do we measure the value of that learning? The takeaways? Start small. Measure early. Reward curiosity. Make learning visible. Treat disciplined failure as a strategic asset. Organizations that do this consistently dont just innovatethey grow, consistently and over time. Thats what successful failure can do for your business.
Category:
E-Commerce
When COVID-19 hit, our business came to a sudden halt. One moment our calendar was full, the next, meetings and engagements were disappearing. Companies wed worked with for years shifted their focus overnight, pouring their energy into keeping doors open and team members safe. Like so many others, we found ourselves sidelinedand facing some hard conversations. While uncertainty hung heavy in the air, our small team was unusually open with each other. We talked candidly about the challenges, the personal toll, and what it might all mean for the business. Without setting out to do so, we had built a foundation of psychological safetyone that made navigating a global crisis far less stressful than it might have been otherwise. We questioned our plans, admitted what we didnt know, and challenged each other with care. And in doing so, we learned something thats shaped how I work ever since: Psychological safety isnt a climate to be fostered when things are easy; its an operating condition that must be designed into the teams DNA for when things get hard. The true test isnt harmony, its conflict. Its about making it safe enough for people to be uncomfortableto disagree, to challenge the status quo, and to admit when theyve failed. Gartner found that highly psychologically safe teams identify and address critical issues 15% faster. And while many people understand the concept, far fewer know how to make it real when trust declines and tension rises. Too often, its treated as a passive state instead of an active practice. The difference between the two is simple: A climate is a vibe, but an operating condition is a blueprint. So, how do you move from a vague aspiration to a daily practice? It all starts with putting psychological safety first. Whether or not you manage people, each of us influences how safe it feels to speak up. Here are three ways to embed psychological safety into daily work, at any level: MAKE DISAGREEMENT PART OF NORMAL WORK Psychological safety has to be embedded into the way work gets done, not just something you hope people embody. That responsibility doesnt sit solely with managers. Anyone can help shape norms around how ideas are challenged, discussed, and improved. When I start working with someone new, I hold a candid one-on-one conversation to set mutual expectations. I might say, My promise to you is transparency and a willingness to provide proactive feedback. You can also expect me to ask for your ideas and input on every major decision. Then I turn it over to them and ask, What do you need from me to feel successful and able to do your best work? This simple act changes the dynamic, communicating that their voice matters from the outset. Once expectations are clear, safety can be operationalized through everyday rituals. For example, instead of presenting a plan for approval, introduce a new idea by asking people to poke holes in it. This isnt an invitation to complain, but a specific, constructive task. People are naturally good at identifying risks and blind spots, and this reframes that critical eye as a valuable contribution. Even without formal authority, you can model this by asking better questions in meetings, inviting alternative perspectives, or naming risks others may be hesitant to raise. SHIFT FROM ANSWERING TO FACILITATING Even with the best intentions, our behaviors can unintentionally undermine psychological safety. One of the most common mistakes is jumping in too quickly to solve a problem. Many of usespecially those seen as experienced or go-to peopleare conditioned to have the answers. When someone brings a challenge, the impulse is to immediately provide a solution. But doing so can unintentionally signal, My ideas are more valuable than yours. The fix? Instead of being the problem-solver, become the problem-solving facilitator. Your opportunity, regardless of role, is to create space for dialogue rather than rushing to be the smartest voice in the room. When someone raises a concern, try asking a question instead of offering a solution. It signals curiosity, respect, and trust. Facilitation also means reading the room: paying attention to whats being said and what isnt. You might say, I can sense this decision is making you uncomfortable. Lets talk about whats behind that. Or, Lets consider this from all angles. What might be missing? These moments of curiosity build trust and surface insights that wouldnt emerge in a more top-down exchange. Over time, this changes the dynamic from quiet compliance to shared ownership. USE FAILURE TO FUEL LEARNING One of the fastest ways psychological safety breaks down is when we cant learn from our mistakes. After any project or experimentsuccessful or notI incorporate a simple set of questions into debriefs: Whats working? Whats not working? What did we learn? What would we do differently next time? This shifts the focus from blame to learning and makes reflection a core output, not an afterthought. Even when youre not running the meeting, you can reinforce this mindset by asking these questions yourself and inviting others into reflection. When failures are treated as data rather than personal shortcomings, people stop hiding missteps and start sharing insights that make everyone better. When psychological safety becomes a baseline operating condition, new possibilities open up. People take calculated risks because they know their ideas are valued and that missteps wont be punished, but used for learning. The team moves faster, decisions get stronger, and accountability becomes shared instead of feared.
Category:
E-Commerce
If you live in Seattle and work at Amazon or Meta in nearby Bellevue, you probably drive to work. But by the end of next month there will be another option for commuters: the worlds first light rail line running on a floating bridge. Right now, drivers cross Lake Washingtonthe long lake between Seattle and eastern suburbs like Bellevueuse one of three floating bridges. Conventional bridges arent feasible because of the depth and width of the lake, which is why the bridges were originally built with pontoons instead. Adding a rail line to one of them meant that designers needed to innovate in multiple ways. A 4-car train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during the day on December 18, 2025. [Photo: Sound Transit] First, since the bridge doesnt have columns like a typical bridge, it moves. Its like a ship thats been anchored to the floor of the lake, says Brian Holloway, deputy director of engineering oversight at Sound Transit, the local transit agency. Near each end of the bridge, where the floating section connects to fixed parts of the bridge over land, hinge-like expansion joints let the bridge move as the water level changes or wind and waves slightly shift the structure. Driving over the bridge in a car, you dont notice the changes as the expansion joints move. But those geometric changes would have a very significant effect on rail, says Matthew Barber, a supervising engineer working on the project at WSP. To make light rail feasible, engineers designed a new solution: track bridges that support a section of rail on a structure with bearings that let the bridge move freely while keeping the rail steady. The rail bends in a very smooth way, Barber says. Workers prepare forms and pour concrete for the light rail track plinths on the I-90 floating bridge for the 2 Line Link connection to Seattle on September 4, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] The bearings are normally used in seismic retrofits in buildings. Almost all the pieces on the floating bridge are not unique, says Holloway. They’re just being assembled in a different way. Weight was another challenge, since the pontoons that float the bridge werent designed to hold light rail. To help with that, the design uses thousands of ultra-lightweight concrete blocks to support the rail, using a mix developed and tested in a partnership with the University of Washington. The rail itself is a little shorter and lighter than typical rail to save more weight. When the rail was installedreplacing a former carpool lanethe team also removed a heavy concrete barrier at the edge of the former lane. All of this meant that the bridge could handle the extra weight. An unpowered LRV is pushed and then towed across the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge (I-90). [Photo: Sound Transit] On a normal bridge, installing rail would normally involve drilling, but the team didnt want to risk drilling into the pontoons, which have to stay watertight. Instead, they used a special high-strength adhesive to attach the concrete blocks to the bridge. Since the bridge hadnt originally been designed to carry electric light rail, engineers had to also find a way to protect it from stray current that could potentially damage the structure. The design now has multiple redundant solutions to avoid that risk. The setting is unusual, since floating bridges are only used in specific conditions. (Norway’s fjords, for example, could potentially also use floating bridges.) But it’s possible that the design solutions could eventually be replicated in some other areas, including another bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle. The Mercer Island 2 Line Station on October 22, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] Even beyond the floating bridge, the new seven-mile stretch of light railfrom downtown Seattle to the southern end of Bellevuerequired several creative new solutions. That included finding a new way to strengthen an overpass for earthquake safety, and reusing part of a former bridge to create access to a new train station in one neighborhood. Every inch of the seven miles has examples of never-been-done-before, creative, resourceful designs, Barber says. (All of this should go unnoticed by users, like any good civil engineering.) On a recent test ride, he says that going over the bridge was some of the smoothest track Ive ever experienced, as a daily commuter on light rail. The test ride was at night, so there wasnt much traffic on the neighboring highway. A dead car pull on the East Link Extension between Bellevue and Mercer Island across the East Channel Bridge on October 29, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] But he imagined it at rush hour. Tens of thousands of people are expected to ride the train daily, eliminating an estimated 230,000 vehicle miles traveled per day. It was cool to be cruising along next to the cars, he says. And I can anticipate that when this opens, there will be lots of commuters on the train who will be zooming past folks who are stuck in traffic in a very satisfied way.
Category:
E-Commerce
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