Stigma of Failure

I loved this article about the stigma of failure written by Alexa Dembek from DuPont that I felt compelled to include it in my blog. Enjoy!

If you’ve never failed, have you truly learned? Every year around Halloween and All Souls’ Day, DuPont’s innovation community comes together in a celebration of learning from, believe it or not, failure. This is our 5th annual event, coined “Dead Projects Day,” (one of my favorite days of the year as an innovator) and it underscores our culture of failing fast and embracing resilience on the path to success.

Let’s be real, failure has a stigma. It can be really difficult to talk about projects that end up on the cutting room floor, but in all reality, we learn so much from missteps and setbacks that get us through to the finish line. Our innovation commitment is simple: we’re constantly improving the speed of innovation so products get to the market faster and we make a valuable impact for our customers. We “fall in love with growth, not projects!”

At this year’s event, with participants dressed in costumes to celebrate, we focused on identifying the markers that can help determine if an innovation project needs a course-correction or “a sunset.” Innovation requires us to forge new paths – and sometimes we can take a wrong turn. Our brave storytellers shared the warning signs that they missed on their projects, and what we can do differently in the future to make smarter choices for innovation and growth. The creative costumes and fun seasonal theme make it an unforgettable learning experience for all of our DuPont innovators. Thank you to everyone who participated in the event and to all our DuPont innovators around the world who deliver on our purpose “to empower the world with the essential innovations to thrive.”  

By Alexa Dembek