I’ve been thinking about this phrase a lot lately: “Failure is not an option”.
At first glance, it sounds strong. Decisive. Motivating. The kind of mindset that drives results.
But if you look closer, it actually reveals an interesting paradox—one that Amy Edmondson has explored extensively in her work on psychological safety.
Because the truth is:
If you really want to avoid failure, you need to create a culture where failure is allowed.
Not because you’re aiming for failure.
But because you’re dealing with reality.
Facing Reality: Failure Is an Option
Let’s be honest—failure is always an option.
Whenever you:
- try something new
- take on a complex challenge
- step into uncertainty in uncharted territory
- or work on something you don’t fully know how to do yet
…there is a real chance things won’t go as planned.
Denying that doesn’t reduce risk.
It just makes it harder to spot issues early—and even harder to respond effectively when things go wrong.
What Operational Excellence Can Teach Us
As you know, I am a strong beliver in Operational Excellence and a strong advocate for a lean problem solving culture.
In Lean problem-solving, problems aren’t something to hide—they’re something to surface. Even to celebrate:
“Hooray, a problem!”, “Problems are blessings!”
Because every problem is a signal:
- a chance to learn
- a chance to improve
- a chance to strengthen the system
And the earlier you identify a problem, the easier—and cheaper—it is to solve.
The real danger isn’t the problem itself. It’s the delay in seeing or acting on it.
Operational Excellence Starts With Openness
This mindset sits at the core of operational excellence.
You cannot achieve it without a culture where problems are surfaced and addressed openly—and quickly. For example, the true purpose of Visual Management in Operational Excellence is not to have shiny surfaces, clean operations and nice pictures & graphs. The true purpose is to identify deviations and the need to interfere as a leader as quick as possible.
And I would argue: the same principle applies to failure.
In today’s volatile business environment, organizations are expected to be:
- adaptive
- responsive
- resilient
All of this requires psychological safety—an environment where people (employees and leaders) feel safe to speak up, raise risks, challenge assumptions, and address uncomfortable truths early.
Because that’s how you prevent the real, costly failures.
The Real Shift
Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg, Professor of Leadership at IMD, has written a brilliant article, titled “Is this the end of empathy”. She reflects on the rise of “tougher” leaders and if we see a new era of leadership approach. Her conclusion:
“High-performing teams are not defined by how carefully they avoid discomfort, but by how quickly they engage with what is true.”
That’s what it comes down to.
Not eliminating failure altogether—
but getting better, faster, and more honest at facing reality.
Final Thought
“Failure is not an option” sounds powerful.
But in practice, it can silence the very signals that help you avoid failure in the first place.
A better mindset might be:
Failure is always a possibility—so let’s build a culture and the capabilities to spot it early and act on it fast.
