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Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen.

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Well, what I'd like to do today 
in this very brief talk,

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is a small social revolution,
I hope.

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As you can see behind me,
my talk is about celebrating failure.

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And when you say failure, very often,
people just switch off.

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But what I'd like to do is --
I'd like to suggest today

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that there are useful failures 
and not so useful failures.

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And i'd like to try 
and help you understand

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how we can manage our failures.

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So I'll begin with 
a very simple question.

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The simple question is: 
who makes mistakes?

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Everybody absolutely, 
human beings make mistakes.

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All human beings 
make mistakes.

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There are no exceptions.

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So if it's inevitable for human beings
to make mistakes --

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Why is it that every single error
that we make

17
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we tend to overexaggerate 
and see it as a disaster?

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We can't get there, 
we'll never get there.

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It's as if an error, a mistake,
a failure means no success,

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It's as if in our brains,
we've got this idea of a spectrum,

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on one side you have success,

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and on the other side,
it's failure.

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But what i'd like to suggest is
that's not the case,

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and if we're able to understand failure,


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and failing well,
and create a failing well culture,

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well then we can create 
the best path to success.

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But to do that, 
unfortunately,

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we have to make a very big shift 
in our perspectives.

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It's quite difficult.
It's not easy to start

30
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thinking positively about failures.

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We need to embrace failures.

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What we tend to do 
is we tend to ignore them,

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or hide them, 
just pretend they're not happening.

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If we do that, we're unable 
to take the information

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that comes from mistakes,

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and we're able to take this information

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and use it well 
on our path to success.

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Basically, I'm gonna give you 
this very simple quotation

39
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from Aldous Huxley, 
I like it very much.

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"Experience is not 
what happens to you.

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It is what you do with 
what happens to you."

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In other words, we need to use what happens,
and apply what happens,

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rather than pretending something

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that goes wrong hasn't happened.

45
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And i'd like to begin by showing you 
that this already exists

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by taking a particular industry 
that is failure obsessive.

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Everything it does 
is linked to failure,

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and so it's part of it's culture.

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Why? Well, because if it doesn't 
manage the small mistakes

50
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then unfortunately, 
the result is very strong.

51
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It's the nuclear industry.

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They have the safest safety record

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of any industry and just as well

54
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because if they make a big mistake, 
a disaster

55
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then many people are killed across continents,

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and also it's a long term disaster.

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So what have they done?

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They got obsessive about mistakes.

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They've started to understand
that using mistakes in order

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to stop disasters is the only way
to keep safety an absolute premium.

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I'll just show you,
just very briefly,

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four main summaries
that they've come up with.

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First one, everyone,
is responsible for the mistakes.

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Everyone is responsible 
as they're part of the process.

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Now, once you've understood
that everyone's responsible,

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then it gets easier to create
an open environment,

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where people are communicating openly

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about what's gone right,
and what's gone wrong as well.

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That takes us on to the third idea,
and the third idea is questioning.

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It doesn't matter who tells you
to do something.

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It doesn't matter how often
the process has been followed.

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You can always 
question that person.

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If the idea is to try and understand
and keep safety high.

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And finally, 
everything that comes out,

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especially the mistakes are shared.

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You can notice that this is from

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the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.

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What does that mean?

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It's a sector-wide idea.

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In other words, we don't keep
our information to ourselves.

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We share it amongst everyone,
all the competitors.

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Now that's pretty interesting.

83
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But where's the link between
mistakes and disasters?

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Well, to do that,
I'm going to show you this.

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This is the accident pyramid,

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it comes from a very different sector,
the insurance sector.

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The insurance sector basically
it's based on failure.

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It has business from failure.

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This pyramid behind me,
it's about a 100 years old.

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They've updated [it]. What you see, 
on the screen behind me

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is 2003 figures,
something like that.

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What's important 
is not the exact figure,

93
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what's important 
is the relationship.

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We'll begin with 
the yellow pieces, okay?

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We'll start with first aid.

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What does first aid mean?

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It means that, 
according to this,

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300 examples of people going 
to get bandages, medicine --

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In other words, 
they've cut their finger,

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they're not feeling well, 
from the company, okay?

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So the company administers medicines,
and so on to help people.

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Next one up, 
30 - severe accidents.

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How do companies 
see severe accidents?

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Well, usually it means
that you've spent

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at least 1 day away from work.

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But, you can imagine,
that's a wide range of accidents.

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So it could be breaking your leg,

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it could be a serious illness, 
and so on.

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And unfortunately,
1 at the top, is fatality,

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and fatality means fatality.

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Now why all of this, 
and why in yellow?

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Well, yellow represents
the reported incidents.

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In other words, companies looking
at the number of accidents.

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They're trying to understand,
how can we bring that down?

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How's it possible 
to bring that down?

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Especially, the severe accidents,
and fatalities.

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We can have processes,
we can have rules.

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But how can we really 
bring it down?

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How we can make a difference?

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And the answer is:
the big numbers at the bottom.

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So let's have a look.

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We'll begin with 
the biggest number, 300,000.

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those are risky behaviors,

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in other words,
doing something --

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when you shouldn't really 
be doing it.

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So you're tired, 
you're stressed out,

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you're not concentrated.

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And the next one up, 3,000.

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Well, that's near misses,
in other words,

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a chain of risky behaviors, 1, 2, 3, 4.

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That would be a disaster unless
it were for luck.

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So we were lucky 
not to have a disaster.

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Okay, so that's the idea!

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And the basic idea is if we can manage
the 3,000 and the 300,000, 


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we can reduce 
the really tough things in the yellow.

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That's the idea,
but, and here's the big but.

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In order to be able to manage

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the big numbers at the bottom,
we need people to tell us.

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Because in the white 
it's the not reported.

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It's people keeping 
mistakes to themselves.

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Now I thought, okay,
that's interesting!

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That's about industries!

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But can we apply this 
to everything, to life?

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And it turns out, we can!

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We can apply this 
accident pyramid to anything.

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So I decided to apply it to something
a disaster I brought for you,

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which is my marriage, okay?

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Now, before we have 
a look at my marriage,

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in terms of the accident pyramid,

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I'm just gonna ask,
is anyone else in the audience,

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have you ever finished 
a long term relationship?

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If you have, just put your hand in the air,
just so I understand.

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Fantastic! Oh, just people in the front 
apparently, not in the back.

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Okay, good!

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So if you have ever finished 
a long term relationship,

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you can play along with me, okay?

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The others, you're just 
gonna have to imagine.

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So, let's begin.

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My personal accident pyramid.

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Risky behaviors, 300,000.

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Wow, that's a lot.

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Examples, well, it could be drinking 
the beer directly out of the bottle.

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It could be forgetting 
my mother-in-law's birthday.

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It could be paying electricity bill late,
so I have to pay extra.

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Something like that, okay?

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Fine, next one up.

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Near misses, well that's a chain 
of risky behaviors,

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where basically, 
there would be a big argument

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if it were not for the situation
so maybe my wife and myself,

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we find ourselves in a public place,
in a theater, so we can't argue.

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We're in front of my parents.
That's basic idea.

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Let's go up to 300.

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Oh well, that's when 
there's screaming arguments, okay?

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So that's when there's 
a difference of opinion.

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I think is what I'd say.

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We go up to 30.

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30 I put out 
as walking out of the house,

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but you can also include, if you wish,
slamming doors, and so on.

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And finally, number 1.
That's a letter from her lawyer

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saying I want a separation, okay?

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So, I thought, well --

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How did that happen there?

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I mean we didn't get married
for us to get divorced, right?

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So how did that happen?

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And it turns out 
that the best way for me

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to have managed this disaster
is exactly the same ideas

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that the nuclear industry had.

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That's amazing!

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Everyone in the relationship 
is responsible for the process.

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Openness means open communication,

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and so giving feedback,

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questioning whatever it is is useful,

193
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and finally constant learning

194
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in order to help yourself get to,

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in this case, a successful situation.

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So, if it's so obvious, 
why don't we do it?

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Well, David Ledbetter spoke about
you are what you share.

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And an interconnected world,

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there is so much potential for sharing.

200
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But we're afraid 
of sharing information.

201
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We're afraid either in relationships,

202
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or in a much bigger situation,

203
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in organizations as well.

204
00:10:13,495 --> 00:10:14,358
Why is that happening?

205
00:10:14,358 --> 00:10:19,110
Well, I'm going to suggest 
that it's a question of timing.

206
00:10:19,130 --> 00:10:24,961
There's a basic idea that short term
is ever more important.

207
00:10:25,531 --> 00:10:28,194
In other words, you're looking just 
at the next quarter.

208
00:10:28,194 --> 00:10:29,551
What's happening at the next quarter

209
00:10:29,551 --> 00:10:31,727
we're not looking ahead enough.

210
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And short-termism 
has permeated society.

211
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But this is a problem,

212
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Because basically, at this point,

213
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where's the innovation coming from?

214
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Where's the learning coming from?

215
00:10:44,771 --> 00:10:47,873
Where's showing initiative coming from?

216
00:10:47,873 --> 00:10:50,773
Basically, ladies and gentlemen,
very often it seems

217
00:10:50,773 --> 00:10:54,622
that we're paid to not make mistakes.

218
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But you know, if you are paid to
not make mistakes

219
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then how are we gonna go forward?

220
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How's that possible?

221
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And a correlation to not making mistakes,

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ladies and gentlemen,
unfortunately, is the blame culture.

223
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The blame culture when there 
is a mistake is this finger pointing.

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It's your fault.

225
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And so what we can do is we can

226
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put the responsibility on to a person.

227
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We can attribute the problems
to a person.

228
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But does that mean 
the problems have gone away?

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Probably not, probably not.

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What all of this has caused, 
ladies and gentlemen,

231
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is if I make a mistake, 
it's probably best to me

232
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to shut up, to keep quiet,

233
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and this creates cover ups.

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And what the cover ups do?

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Well, cover ups create the potential
for systemic disasters.

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That's the fatality at the top.

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I'll give you some examples.

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1986, this is a technological disaster.

239
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Space shuttle Challenger disaster.

240
00:12:01,197 --> 00:12:05,693
Logistics, how about 
the Denver international airport

241
00:12:05,693 --> 00:12:09,735
automatic baggage handling system.

242
00:12:09,735 --> 00:12:14,268
It went more than half 
a million dollars over budget.

243
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It failed to deliver for 10 years,
and finally, it was stopped.

244
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A little bit more recent
the environmental disaster

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00:12:21,112 --> 00:12:24,620
that came out of the deep water horizon.

246
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All of these are systemic disasters

247
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but maybe the biggest one,

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is something we're living through right now,

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which is the financial crack.

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What you can see behind me,

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is the Economist front cover.

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But my question to you is: 
which year do you think this is?

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2008? 2010?

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No, actually, unfortunately, 
it's November 1997.

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You see, we're not very good 
at learning from failures.

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We tend to sort of forget them,
ignore them.

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Let me try and put everything together, 
in synthesis.

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Well, in a perfect world, 
everything would be right,

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and we'd understand, 
and that would be wonderful.

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But we don't live in a perfect world!

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Let's take the opposite.

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I do something, it doesn't go right,
and I don't understand why.

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And probably, 
I don't want to understand why,

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because failing is bad. 
So I'll just forget it!

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Short term pressure makes us feel

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that what's come up 
now is the answer.

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In other words, you're successful,
but it's not important

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how or why you were successful.

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And very often, short-termism 
means you were lucky.

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Well, that's good for 
the immediate result.

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But there's a problem. 
And the problem is --

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you don't know how to repeat it,
and probably what we're doing is,

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we're sewing the seeds 
to an eventual disaster.

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So what I'm going to 
suggest this afternoon

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is why not think about 
short term mistakes

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being an important part of learning

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to get to the overall goal?

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In other words, shifting, 
moving from this idea

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of successful - unsuccessful,

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to why we are 
successful or unsuccessful.

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That's the basic idea.

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So, let me put it all together.

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What have I learned from failure?

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I've learned these things here.

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First, failing well means learning,

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especially the difficult feedback.

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In fact if you can take something 
from the difficult feedback,

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that's usually the most
important information.

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Second one, 
if you're too short term

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about how you see things,

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you're probably creating, 
without knowing it,

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the basis for a long term disaster.

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Third, accountability doesn't mean
punishing people,

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it menas understanding 
you're part of the process.

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And finally, if we can create
a no blame culture,

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basically, we automatically 
have more openness.

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So there's much more 
information that comes out.

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Now, I can't do this by myself.

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I can't create a failing well 
culture by myslef.

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So, I need some activists.

301
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And I thought I'd start with 
600 people today, okay?

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So I know you're busy today.

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So, as of tomorrow, 
ladies and gentlemen,

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let's all start failing well.

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Thank you very much!

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(Applause)

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Host: Now, Tim, I have one question.

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We're in European, Western society

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and most of your examples, 
nuclear and so on,

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were from this society,
this culture.

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Do these messages 
apply across cultures?

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00:15:44,201 --> 00:15:46,482
TB: Yes, it's a very good question!

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In terms of short-termism.

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So this idea of just looking 
at the next quarter,

315
00:15:50,431 --> 00:15:53,688
that's very much an idea
of the western world.

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00:15:53,688 --> 00:15:57,308
But the idea of cover ups,
is world-wide.

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00:15:57,314 --> 00:16:00,659
It links to how much information

318
00:16:00,659 --> 00:16:03,840
is power if you retain it 
or you share it.

319
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,318
But let's say what's 
underlying everything.

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So in other words, 
what goes across cultures,

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is the idea of embarrassment and shame,

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00:16:10,089 --> 00:16:12,007
which changes from culture to culture.

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00:16:12,007 --> 00:16:13,812
So, in the eastern cultures,

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00:16:13,812 --> 00:16:17,675
shame would be
looking bad in front of the group

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00:16:17,675 --> 00:16:19,938
whilst generally in the west --

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It's shame feeling.

327
00:16:21,470 --> 00:16:23,722
I'm unable to do something - the individual,

328
00:16:23,722 --> 00:16:25,580
So yes, the basic idea.

329
00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:27,721
But how we would change that

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00:16:27,721 --> 00:16:29,925
that's gonna change
from culture to culture.

331
00:16:29,925 --> 00:16:31,981
Host: Okay, thank you very much!
Tim Baxter.

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(Applause)