Why? Because in a complex, uncertain world, no person — and no team — operates without mistakes.
Only those who accept this and learn from it stay capable and innovative.

And this is true far beyond the cockpit — it’s more relevant than ever in today’s business world.

„Failure is part of thriving in an uncertain world“

This is how renowned Harvard professor Amy Edmondson opened her keynote at ATD 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Her central theme: „Unlocking Growth Through Intelligent Failures: The Strategic Advantage of Embracing Fallibility.“

The core message:
👉 In a world of constant change, success is not about avoiding failure — but about handling failure intelligently.

Simone Biles: Leadership through courageous recalibration

A powerful example Edmondson shared is Simone Biles.

When Biles consciously stepped back at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to protect her mental and physical health, many first saw this as a “withdrawal” or even “failure.”

In reality, it was:
✅ a strategic decision to remain capable in the long term
✅ an intelligent reassessment of her situation
✅ a signal to others that taking a step back and asking for help is an act of strength

For modern leadership, this means:
➡️ Enabling and role-modeling critical reassessments and “pause buttons”
➡️ Prioritizing long-term resilience and performance over short-term perfection

Three types of failure — and why we need some of them

Amy Edmondson distinguishes between three types of failure:

👉 Only intelligent failures truly move us forward — they help us explore new knowledge and solutions.

Why your pilots should fail

One striking example from Edmondson’s keynote:

A telecom company launched a new service — after a “perfect” pilot in the lab.

When rolled out to the real market: complete failure.

Why?
➡️ The pilot was not designed to uncover weak spots.
➡️ The goal was to prove the concept — instead of learning where it wouldn’t work.

Edmondson’s conclusion:
👉 “Your pilots should fail!”
👉 “They should be designed to find the weak spots.”

This is the only way products, processes, and teams become truly robust.

What does this mean for leaders?

Leadership in a learning organization requires:

✅ Creating psychological safety: Space for questions, doubts, new ideas — and failure
✅ Actively inviting exploration: Asking good questions, encouraging experimentation
✅ Supporting courageous decisions: Providing backing for intelligent risk-taking
✅ Promoting learning cycles: Making failures transparent and systematically learning from them

Practical checklist: Your next steps as a leader

✅ Do I talk about context? (How uncertain/new is our field?)
✅ Do I allow questions, dissenting opinions, critical input?
✅ Are we running experiments?
✅ Do I celebrate both progress and smart failure?
✅ How do we systematically learn from failure?

Conclusion: No innovation without intelligent failure

In a world where change is the only constant, we don’t need “perfect” leaders.
We need leaders who can navigate uncertainty with confidence and foster learning cultures.

Leadership today means: creating space for intelligent failure.

This is how we ensure future-readiness, innovation power, and sustainable success.

Read more and dive deeper

👉 In our leadership training and development programs, leaders learn exactly these skills:
Creating psychological safety. Shaping modern failure cultures. Fostering innovation capability.

👉 Want to learn more?
Contact us or register for our next webinar “Leading for Learning & Innovation”!

Sources & Inspiration

🎤 Amy Edmondson, ATD 2025 keynote: Unlocking Growth Through Intelligent Failures
📚 Amy Edmondson: The Right Kind of Wrong (2023)
🏅 Example: Simone Biles, Tokyo Olympics 2021
👨‍✈️ Ben Berman, Senior Pilot at United Airlines (quoted by Amy Edmondson in her ATD 2025 keynote)

P.S.:

Failure parties?
Yes — this is also a leadership tool Edmondson advocates for.
More on this… in our next article. 😉

🚀 Want to turn these insights into action in your organization? Contact us or book your free strategy / consultancy call here.