Every day, more people are stepping forward with ideas and insights to promote a healthy relationship with failure. Below is a collection of some of our favourite resources.
Notice something missing from our list? Let us know!
*Argyris, Chris (1991). Teaching Smart People How to Learn
Brown, Tim (2009). Change By Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
Barsh, Joanna, Marla M. Capozzi, and Jonathan Davidson (2008). Leadership and Innovation
Cannon, Mark D. and Amy C. Edmondson (2005). Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently): How Great Organizations Put Failure to Work to Innovate and Improve. Long Range Planning, Vol.38(3), pp. 299-319
Catalano, Allison S., Kent Redford, Richard Margoluis, and Andrew T. Knight (2017). Black swans, cognition, and the power of learning from failure
Crane, Monique (2016). Resilience in the Workplace: Lessons for Managers and Staff
Curran, Thomas (2023). Perfectionists Need to Embrace Failure
*Danner, John and Mark Coopersmith (2015). The Other "F" Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work
Darling, Marilyn, Charles Parry, and Joseph Moore (2005). Learning in the Thick of It
*Duhigg, Charles (2016). What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
*Duke, Annie (2022). Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
*Dweck, Carol S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Edmondson, Amy C. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
*Edmondson, Amy C. (2011). Strategies for Learning from Failure
Edmondson, Amy (2023). The Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive
Farson, Richard and Ralph Keyes (2002). Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation
*Fishbach, Ayelet (2019). Line of Inquiry: Ayelet Fishback on Learning from Failure
*Frei, Frances and Morriss, Anne (2020). Begin with Trust
*Furstenthal, Laura, Alex Morris, and Erik Roth (2022). Fear Factor: Overcoming Human Barriers to Innovation
Freakonomics Radio (2014). Failure Is Your Friend
Gladwell, Malcolm (2013). The Gift of Doubt
Garvin, David, Edmondson, Amy and Gino, Francesca (2008). Is Yours a Learning Organization?
Gino, Francesca and Staats, Bradley (2015). Why Organizations Don't Learn
*Grange, Dr. Pippa (2020). Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself
*Heen, Sheila (2015). How to use others' feedback to learn and grow
*Heffernan, Margaret (2012). Dare to Disagree
*Hidden Brain (2023). Learning from your mistakes
Ito, Joi (2014). Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist"
Kegan, Robert and Lisa Lahey (2001). The real reason people won't change
Kotter, John (2012). Accelerate
*Lewis, Sarah (2014). The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery
Li, Charlie (2011). The Art of Admitting Failure
Martin, Claire (2014). Wearing Your Failures on Your Sleeve
McGrath, Rita (2010). Are You Squandering Your Intelligent Failures
McGrath, Rita (2011). Failing by Design
McRaney, David (2013). Survivorship Bias
Nobel, Carmen (2014). Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance
*Professional AF Podcast (2020). Why we should treat business failure like a broken heart - with Guy Winch
Pfeffer, Jeffrey and Robert Sutton (1999). The Knowing-Doing Gap
Rose, Raphael (2091). From stress to resilience
*Rudy, Bruce (2022). Build learning into Your Employees' Workflow
*Scott, Kim (2017). Radical Candor
Senge, Peter (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization
Starbuck, William H. and Philippe Baumard (2005). Learning from Failures: Why it May Not Happen. Long Range Planning, Vol. 38(3), pp. 281-298
*Stone, Douglas, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen (1999). Difficult Conversations: How to discuss what matters most
Sundheim, Doug (2015). Debriefing: A Simple Tool to Help Your Team Tackle Tough Problems
*Syed, Matthew (2015). Black Box Thinking: The surprising truth about success and why some people never learn from their mistakes
*Tavris, Carol and Elliot Aronson (2008). Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
Thibodeaux, Wanda (2019). How to Get Workers Past Their To-Do Lists and Give Them More Time to Innovate
Wang, Dashun (2019). The Tipping Point Between Failure and Success
Westley, Frances, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Quinn Patton (2006). Getting To Maybe
*Fail Forward favourites!