Failure Is Essential
Scientists understand this. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn. But you have to be careful how you define failure. To a Scientist, not getting the results you want is not failure, it’s success. That is, as long as you get reliable, consistent results.
One of my family’s favorite TV shows is MythBusters. Of course, much of what they do is horrible science in the name of entertainment. I’m OK with that. But it certainly gets fun science out there. Adam Savage, one of the two main hosts, recently appeared at Maker Faire (run by Make), where he gave a wonderful talk (video from fora.tv can be found here), mostly on this topic.
[...] I recently posted on how failure is essential. Along the same lines of failure being essential to learning, conflict is essential to innovation and change. I’ve often felt this. Not everyone feels this way, but I love a healthy debate. Rick Brenner recently published an article in his Chaco Canyon series on this topic, called Teamwork Myths: Conflict. [...]
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