About the Book
A revolutionary guide that will transform your relationship with failure, from the pioneering researcher of psychological safety and award-winning Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson.
We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we're often torn between two failure cultures: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says to fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well.
After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely.
Outlining the three archetypes of failure--simple, complex, and intelligent--Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm.
With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth. You'll never look at failure the same way again.
About the Author :
Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, renowned for her research on psychological safety over twenty years. Her award-winning work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Psychology Today, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and more. Named by Thinkers50 in 2021 as the #1 Management Thinker in the world, Edmondson's Ted Talk "How to Turn a Group of Strangers into a Team" has been viewed over three million times. She received her PhD, AM, and AB from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the author of Right Kind of Wrong, The Fearless Organization, and Teaming. Kathe Mazur has narrated many audiobooks, winning the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2014, being named a finalist for the Audie Award in 2013 and 2015, and winning several AudioFile Earphones Awards. As an actress, she can be seen as DDA Hobbs on The Closer and in the upcoming Major Crimes. She has worked extensively in film, theater, and television, including appearances on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, House, Brothers and Sisters, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, ER, Monk, and many others.
Review :
"A masterclass in navigating, and even seeking out, the inevitable failures that pave the way to success. The incomparable Amy Edmondson shows us how to see failures as beginnings rather than endings--and how to create the conditions for failing well. Comprehensive, clear, and full of real-world examples, a must-read for performers and leaders alike."
-- "Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author"
"Drawing on fascinating examples of individual and public mishaps--hospital errors, aviation mistakes, nuclear accidents, for example--Edmondson sets out a cogent, information rich study based in clearly explained research and buttressed by an abundance of practical tools. Perfectionists will find this freeing."
-- "Publishers Weekly"
