Glory of Failure - exploring its positive value

A group of Fellows met at the RSA last week to take forward the 'Glory of Failure' project. Mitchell Sava FRSA proposed this idea at the Open Space RSA Networks event on 22 November 2007.

The project seeks to explore the positive value of failure - personal growth, introspection, knowledge - to promote a healthy sense of ambition, creativity, and innovative spirit. Following lively discussions on the RSA Networks Platform around attitudes towards risk, failure as an essential aspect of creativity, failure as a collective responsibility when it comes to governance and social policy and looking at connections with the RSA's work with the Risk Commission, the project featured in the RSA Journal in the Spring and invited responses from Fellows. After this initial meeting, the network is building up to deliver an imaginative and engaging campaign to explore the positive aspects of failure.

The first phase of the project is looking to define the dimensions of failure and exploring reasons of 'fear of failure': the differences between doing something wrong (fault) and not meeting objectives (no fault necessarily involved); internally and externally caused failure; the three interacting levels at which failure occurs (business, personal, society).

The network is then imagining ways to document illustrative stories and case studies. This could include a 'Big Confessions' book or independent film highlighting the positive failures of prominent and other individuals, a website to be used as a central communication channel and story sharing base, a 'Glory of Failure' mini curriculum for teachers to encourage experimentation and creativity in young people and/or a best practice network for organisations to promote tolerance of failure as a by-product of innovation.

For more information or to get involved in this project by being part of the team or participate in the discussion, please contribute to the discussion on the RSA Networks Platform or email networks@rsa.org.uk.