John Danner

The Other "F" Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work John Danner

Marc Notes: Nobody wants to fail, but failure is a fact of life. Most of us treat it as a regrettable, even shameful, event best overlooked. In truth, failure can be a game-changing strategic resource that can help you and your organization achieve the greater success you crave. This book shows how successful leaders and teams are putting failure to work every day - to re-engage employees, spark innovation and accelerate growth. Authors Danner and Coopersmith - with their rare blend of senior-level executive experience, global advising, teaching acumen and cross-discipline perspective - share these valuable new practices, and show how they can improve results across your organization. Table of Contents: Foreword by Jeffrey Bewkes, Chairman and CEO, Time Warner xv Preface: A Book About a Topic Nobody Wants to Talk About xvii Chapter 1 What's in It for Me? Your Personal Guided Book Tour 1 PART I What: The Facts and Facets of Failure 11 Chapter 2 The Other F Word: "Failure" Is Such a Loaded Word 13 Chapter 3 The Gravity of Failure and Failure's Gravity 21 Chapter 4 Defining Failure: Mistakes and Unwelcome Outcomes That Matter 27 Chapter 5 Fear and Memory: Failure's Force Multipliers 37 PART II When and Where: How Failure Appears at Different Organizational Phases 47 Chapter 6 Start-Ups: Launching Your Venture in the Land of Failure 49 Your Role: Passionate Convincer Chapter 7 Keep-Ups: Surviving and Thriving After You Meet Payroll 67 Your Role: Confident Juggler Chapter 8 Grown-Ups: Dodging the Oxymoron of "Big Company Agility" 81 Your Role: Trusted Colleague PART III How: Using the Failure Value Cycle to Advance Your Organization 97 Chapter 9 The Failure Value Cycle: Seven Stages Where You Can Leverage or Flunk Failure 99 Chapter 10 Stage One--Respect: Acknowledge the Gravity of Failure 103 Your Role: Straight Talker Chapter 11 Stage Two--Rehearse: It's Not Just About Fire Drills 121 Your Role: Tenacious Coach Chapter 12 Stage Three--Recognize: Pick Up the Signals of Failure Earlier 131 Your Role: Watchful Monitor Chapter 13 Stage Four--React: Deal with It! 143 Your Role: Team Captain Chapter 14 Stage Five--Reflect: Turn Failure from a Regret to a Resource 153 Your Role: Inquisitive Student Chapter 15 Stage Six--Rebound: Retake the Initiative 165 Your Role: Field General Chapter 16 Stage Seven--Remember: Embed Failure Savvy in Your Culture 173 Your Role: Proud Storyteller Chapter 17 The Failure Value Report Card: A Practical Tool to Help You Put Failure to Work 183 PART IV Now: Put the Other F Word to Work 193 Chapter 18 Creating the Failure-Savvy Organization 195 Chapter 19 Escape the Gravity of Failure: Leading the Fallible Organization 209 Afterword by China Gorman, CEO, Great Place to Work Institute 213 Appendix--Our Classrooms: Putting Failure to Work in Creating Value 215 Acknowledgments 225 About the Authors 227 Notes 229 Index 249 Presenting The Other "F" Word Keynote 259Biographical Note: JOHN DANNER is a management consultant, professor, and entrepreneur. He advises global enterprises and emerging ventures, and anchors international executive education programs. He teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy, and leadership at the University of California Berkeley and Princeton University; and conceived the idea for TED U[niversity]. A frequent keynote speaker at conferences on five continents, he and his wife live in Berkeley, CA and New York City. Visit www. JohnDanner.com MARK COOPERSMITH is a corporate executive, entrepreneur, strategic advisor, and professor. A Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, he teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership to students and executives from around the world. He has built and run global businesses for Sony and Newell Rubbermaid, has launched successful Silicon Valley startups, and speaks often to audiences internationally. He and his family live in Tiburon, CA. Visit www. MarkCoopersmith.comJacket Description/Flap: Everyone wants success. Organizations want greater innovation, stronger growth, and deeper employee engagement. If you're an executive, entrepreneur or team member, you know how hard that is to do. The good news is you're sitting on a largely untapped strategic resource that can help, but most organizations and managers prefer not to talk about it. It's "failure," the "Other F Word"--and it's one asset you and your colleagues create and pay for every day. You might as well put it to work. How? In this provocative book, the authors share failure-savvy insights from exclusive interviews with leaders of large multinationals, small and mid-size businesses, and startup ventures. Danner and Coopersmith add their unique interdisciplinary background and perspectives as executives, entrepreneurs, board members, and advisors to global enterprises and growing companies. As professors at the University of California Berkeley and Princeton, they also contribute their original research and classroom experience with students and executives from around the world. Their practical 7-stage Failure Value Cycle helps you avoid failure in the first place, recognize it earlier, deal with it better when it happens (which it will), and leverage it to drive stronger performance. Danner and Coopersmith can help you unlock the potential of failure by respecting its inevitability, taking it out of the realm of taboo, talking about it openly, learning from it, and applying its lessons. Failure's like gravity--a pervasive, powerful fact of life. You may want to defy it, but you can't deny it. And, like gravity itself, failure can be harnessed toachieve the success you want. Managed effectively, it can help you better serve the needs of your customers and investors, build stronger trust within your organization, and inspire greater creativity, commitment, and confidence across your organization. Tap into the power of The Other ""F"" Word to reap the rewards of a more failure-positive approach to your organization's most important priorities. "Put failure to work today!"Jacket Description/Back:"Praise for" The "Other" "F" Word "Great innovators don't fear failure. They build on it. In this pragmatic guide, Danner and Coopersmith tell you how to think about failure in a positive way--and use it to create value." --WALTER ISAACSON, President, Aspen Institute, former Chairman/CEO, CNN, bestselling biographer "Danner and Coopersmith show you how to change your relationship with failure. Start putting this book to work before you make another move--if you want to succeed." --GUY KAWASAKI, startup guru and business evangelist "Whether you're a hardened CEO or a rising star, don't overlook failure. It might point the way to your next high-impact venture or where you ought to pivot. Danner and Coopersmith have translated their decades of experience with startup, mid-size, and global businesses into a practical and creative executive's guide." --LINDA ROTTENBERG, cofounder and CEO, Endeavor "This book offers valuable perspective and an excellent guide to Silicon Valley's unique global advantage: acceptance and embrace of failure. It tells you 'everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask' about failure--and success." --VIVEK WADHAWA, Stanford, Duke, and Singularity University "Executives today need the no-nonsense, practical insights "The Other "F" Word" delivers on how you can leverage failure to inform and even inspire your organization. And since failure knows no boundaries, this book promises to be a vital resource for intelligent leaders everywhere." --TAMMY ERICKSON, London Business School fellow, award-winning author "A lifetime in high-risk environments has taught me that failure can be an extraordinarily rich source of success. So take Danner and Coopersmith's spot-on advice: Don't just fail, learn. Don't just learn, grow. "The Other "F" Word" shows you how, with a great deal to offer even the most canny executives." --SCOTT DELMAN, Tony Award-winning producer, "The Book of Mormon" "Being afraid to fail means you'll be afraid to try. Playing it safe gets you nowhere. That's why the Lean Startup embraces failure as a key resource. Whether entrepreneur or executive, you can use this essential book to harness failure to get the results you want." --STEVE BLANK, father of the Lean Startup movement For more, visit www. TheOtherFWordBook.comPublisher Marketing: Leverage the power of failure in your organization Nobody wants to fail, but failure is a fact of life. Most of us treat it as a regrettable, even shameful, event best overlooked. In truth, failure can be a game-changing strategic resource that can help you and your organization achieve the greater success you crave. "The Other "F" Word" shows how successful leaders and teams are putting failure to work every day - to re-engage employees, spark innovation and accelerate growth. Authors Danner and Coopersmith - with their rare blend of senior-level executive experience, global advising, teaching acumen and cross-discipline perspective - share these valuable new practices, and show how they can improve results across your organization. Based on exclusive interviews with prominent leaders and insightful examples from their own in-depth work, the book features a practical seven-stage framework to liberate failure as a force to advance your leadership agenda. After all, everyone creates and confronts failure on a daily basis. Why not use it to your advantage? "The Other "F" Word" shows you how to: Start an open, productive conversation about failure across your organization Reduce the fear of failure that stifles initiative, creativity and engagement Anticipate, prepare for and respond to failure, so you can leverage it when it happens Harness failure as a catalyst to drive innovation, improve performance and strengthen culture Failure's like gravity - pervasive and powerful. Whether you're a leader or team member of a startup, a growing business, or an established enterprise, failure is today's lesson for tomorrow. Let "The Other "F" Word" show you how to apply this lesson and take your company where it needs to go.

Contributor Bio:  Danner, John John Danner is a management consultant, professor, and entrepreneur. He advises global enterprises and emerging ventures, and anchors international executive education programs. He teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy, and leadership at the University of California Berkeley and Princeton University; and conceived the idea for TED University. A frequent keynote speaker at conferences on fi ve continents, he and his wife live in Berkeley, CA and New York City. Visit www. JohnDanner.comContributor Bio:  Coopersmith, Mark Mark Coopersmith is a corporate executive, entrepreneur, strategic advisor, and professor. A Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley s Haas School of Business, he teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership to students and executives from around the world. He has built and run global businesses for Sony and Newell Rubbermaid, has launched successful Silicon Valley startups, and speaks frequently to international audiences. He and his family live in Tiburon, CA. Visit www. MarkCoopersmith.com