Originally Published on Center for Positive Organizations Blog:
Myers, C.G. (2014, March). What’s positive about failure? Center for Positive Organizations, Blog post. http://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/blog/whats-positive-about-failure/
Failure, on its face, doesn’t appear to be something all that positive. Working with the Center for Positive Organizations, I always get puzzling looks when I describe my research on how individuals learn from their failed experiences. Indeed, failures and other difficult events don’t crop up often in the mental picture many people have of a positive organization; usually people imagine a successful, upbeat workplace with bright walls and happy people. Failure and adversity don’t really fit that vision.