Failure is the key to progress – if only Whitehall could see it

Laziness, self-interest and inertia exist across Whitehall and Westminster precisely because those with ideas and energy are not backed to fail, writes Salma Shah

Wednesday 14 July 2021 16:08 BST
Comments
<p>Gareth Southgate applauds fans after the Euro 2020 final </p>

Gareth Southgate applauds fans after the Euro 2020 final

We are programmed to believe that success is a consistent upward trajectory. We humans crave neat story structures and simple narrative arcs, which help us to find order in a chaotic world. If you work hard and have enough belief, you will triumph!

It’s the type of simple logic we like to follow yet the reality is so much more complicated. So why do we persist with the delusion? We should really get better at failure.

Failure is something to embrace; it is a catalyst that propels innovation and prompts reflection and reassessment. In tech-speak you will think of it as the Ooda loop, constantly looking at what goes wrong and ruthlessly assessing it to improve the process. Yes, we may still be reeling from Sunday’s penalty shootout heartbreak but look at the facts: England, against the odds, played in a final with an amazingly close result. This is not the type of consistency we expect from our national side because, importantly, it was built on a string of failures.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in