Here's how you can turn failures into opportunities for growth as an executive.

As an executive, acknowledging and accepting failures is essential for progress. Rather than viewing setbacks as obstacles, we must recognise their value as invaluable learning experiences. By carefully examining what went wrong and understanding the underlying causes, we can identify areas for improvement and refine our strategies accordingly. This reflective approach not only enhances our personal development but also fosters a culture of resilience and innovation within the organisation. Embracing change and continuously seeking improvement empowers us to make more informed decisions and become more effective leaders.

In my experience, here are the following: 1. Calculated Risks: Encourage taking calculated risks and trying new approaches. 2. Agile Methodology: Adopt agile frameworks to foster rapid iteration and adaptation. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Emphasize the importance of quickly testing ideas and pivoting when necessary.

Some managers will "blamecast," finding others to "throw under the bus," as a quick way to move on without facing the possibility of accountability. These managers are cheating themselves as much as they are hurting and deceiving others. A braver approach yields greater rewards. This is not about shame or paying for the error - the company has already done that. This is about strengtheninng and derisking. You also have to look to yourself and your role in failures. Mistakes need not be hidden from your team, as key learning and emergent opportunities can also be shared with them. Handled well, the analysis can not only result in deeper understanding and stronger products, but also a more connected team.

Conduct systematic feedback and evaluation processes when we starts to notice any signs of a potential failure midway of any project launches, it’s important to read the signs, adjust the sail based on the situation so team can continue to develop successful outcomes.

Executive leadership demands a growth mindset that views challenges as opportunities for learning and improvement. By carefully examining failures, we can uncover valuable insights that shape future strategies. Fostering a culture where mistakes are openly discussed and learned from builds resilience and adaptability. This reflective approach not only develops individual leaders but also drives organisational progress, transforming failures into catalysts for innovation and achievement.

Sometimes is good to reflect on short term failures, make adjustment to the strategy to achieve long term successes. I experienced many occasions where we don’t have the results we seeking during an initial launch of a project, but when we enable good changes and improve on our execution, good results followed. I’m a strong advocate for refining strategies and adjusting the flow when necessary. It really helps.

Creating a culture of resilience is not easy. It takes a certain character to be able to achieve this. That certain character is built from having been through pain, suffering, setbacks, disruptions, failures & all kinds of adversities, repeatedly. Some food for thought: 1. Think "disruptive" & "out-of-the box". Anticipate disruption & failures. Have the "So What" mentality. 2. Think differently about change management. Don't be restricted to the "top down" approach. Be open to "bottom up" & "peer-to-peer" approaches, too. It's about inspiring from inside the organization. 3. Think "inclusiveness" to practise open mindsets & open communication. Create psychological safety so your teams are not afraid to speak up & share their tiniest fear.

Sometimes it’s really OK to be NOT OK when you fail. I saw that many times and especially so when you are able to galvanize the strength positively in the face of a defeat, showing spirit of a fight-back, staying resilient in the course of failure, makes an inspiring story. People look at leaders that failed but are inspirational. The positive vibes you exhibited can captivate many others to deliver the best results. We all learnt from the experience, and others learned from good leaders with such great courage.

To me, the very first and fundamental step in dealing with "failure" is to reframe it into something useful. Nothing is a failure unless and until you give up. And cutting losses is a positive trait of a sustained leader in the right circumstances. Until a project is appropriately abandoned, the events should not be viewed as failures. They are merely setbacks. They allow time to assess the situation, learn from it in a positive way, re-plan with greater wisdom from what you have learned, and start again smarter and more confident. After all, wasn't it Edison who noted that he not failed? He'd merely learned 10,000 ways that did not work.

Staying passionate about what you want to accomplish matters especially when the end results didn’t meet expectations. Coming back stronger and positively will influence the team to achieve more. Leaders that exhibited positive energy will always be inspiring others!