As you grow into a leadership or management position, you are not only responsible for your behavior, but also the behavior of your team members. It is especially important that you and your team are exposed to the idea of failure and how it relates directly to leadership.

Many people avoid situations in which they might fail. Other individuals fear failure so much they will not take a risk or have an opinion other than what the group wants. There is an old adage that says, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Select a leader in business, sports, management, or government and plan a short 20-minute interview. The interview may be over the phone or in person.

Suggested interview questions:

• What can be learned by failing?
• You seem pretty confident and successful. Have you ever exposed your team to the idea of failure to prepare them for consequences if the wrong choices are made?
• What can be learned by failing?
• In what ways does failure affect success?
• What do you think is the value of failure?
• How can having a failure change the way you make decisions or do business in the future? How?
• Some leaders seem to always make the right decisions and therefore experience a lot of success. How can too much success interfere with creativity?
• What if we could design a controlled failure system for work that could tap creativity without causing fear or stress?