Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes, and Thinking Big

By Ralph Heath

Book Overview

Celebrating Failure is the definitive how-to manual for leaders seeking to embrace the power of failure as a learning tool to improve their organizations and achieve ever-greater goals. The business world (and, lately, the political arena) is convinced that the number one topic is change. Heath posits that it might well be failure, because if you do it right, failure can become a launching pad for change. Heath contends that "positive failures" are not only necessary steps on the path to success, but encourage greater freedom to take risks in pursuit of one's life goals. This counter-intuitive but powerful title includes: Engaging stories of real-life business and personal failure experiences. Practical steps to apply each chapter's "lessons" and change your approach to risk-taking and failure. Positive, effective ways to eliminate the "fear of failure" that can hold you back in today's competitive, fast-changing world. Heath's insightful stories lay out his own failures and reveal his human side as a son, father, athlete, and business leader.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1601630646
• ISBN13: 9781601630643
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Career Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.5" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

A motivational guide with original, yet still practical wisdom

Failure isn't that you failed; it's that you were willing to take that risk. "Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes, and Thinking Big" is a different sort of business motivational manual, encouraging entrepreneurs to fail, or at the very least, not be afraid of failure. If you don't fear failure, you are more willing to take risks, and those risks could lead to bigger success. "Celebrating Failure" is a motivational guide with original, yet still practical wisdom.

Great Book

I really enjoyed this book. It should be read by every manager who is interested in encouraging innovation among those who report to him or her. I think the premise of "Celebrating Failure" is right on: that if a lot can be learned from mistakes why not encourage employees to take a chance and then if they make a mistake, instead of berating them, use it as a learning experience. I have always thought that was true but Ralph Heath has articulated it in a way that makes it clear that mistakes can be growth opportunities rather than career enders. The examples he cites from managing employees who worked at the advertising agency he started and managed for 30 years serve to drive this point home. I have encountered employees who had such a fear of making a mistake that they were afraid to make a decision and certainly were afraid to take a chance (the old adage: "You can't get fired if you go with IBM" or some other tried and true product or method still holds true). I hope that "Celebrating Failure" can circulate in those companies and encourage some bosses to allow employees to stick their necks out a little. Both the boss and the employe will be better for it. A great read and full of real life examples. Very well written.

The Blueprint for Success

Any great entreprenuer knows that there's a certain degree of risk associated with starting a new endeavor from scratch. Frequently, they're embarking on a mission that has never been attempted; there is no "blueprint" to follow; only their own intuition. Certainly, some will fail; that's the nature of the beast. Others will survive for the long haul, but rarely experience success without embracing the reality that many of their efforts will fail, miserably. Overcoming these obstacles is what defines greatness. The author, Ralph Heath has written an engaging and wonderfully unique perspective of "failure" and its importance in creating long-term success for any organization. "Failure" is what most people never want to admit happens to them, especially in the fear-based culture of corporate America. In that uptight environment, when things go wrong, nobody wants to accept responsibility; that's when the finger-pointing and backstabbing begins. It's no wonder so many businesses are in the mess they're in today; including previously successful companies who perhaps grew too big for their own good. It seems that size does matter in dealing with business issues today; the larger the enterprise, the less tolerant of failure they tend to be. And so it goes. Heath's book is wonderfully written, with compelling arguments about why we should embrace failure; risk-taking and innovation are the only ways an organization can advance. Maintaining the safe status quo is anything but "safe" at all; often, it's "fatal". Certainly, our recent economic crisis has been fueled by countless factors, including a bad fiscal policy from our own government. However, the way of doing business in corporate America, with its pervasive fear of failure permeating its organizations, is a major contributing factor to the malaise. How can we get back on track? Will the pompous CEOs of corporate America finally wake up and smell the coffee? Will they be willing to set the right example by embracing failure as a necessary component to doing business? Unless they do, Heath's book will do little to help this misguided sector of business move forward. It's cliche to suggest this should be "required reading" for all CEOs of any sized company to read and heed. But they should; they can thank the author later.

Insights from Reading this book

I like Chapter 4 the best - Leading from the Back - it reminded me of hiking with my granddaughter - it's best to be behind her and so she senses control and sets the pace. It also reminded me of Herbie in Eli Goldratt's book The Goal. Great book BTW if you've not read it. You had some great quotes in the book. Some of my favorites were: As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, think big - Donald Trump. Amen! P. 61 Hiring is not exclusively about finding people with the right experience; it's about finding people with the right mindset. Amen! (If I could just get that across to some of my clients, they would be amazed at how much frustration they save themselves...and me! They know this intellectually, but get caught up in hiring because they know the person, or know who recommended them, or like so aspect of their personality, etc.) P. 68 ...if we put human needs first, profit has away of following. Favorite quote was on page 89..."Balls," said the queen. "If I had them, I'd be king". Love it. Ideas/Mind shifts I particularly liked: Plan as if the future is already here. P. 84 - Create a company so good I feel compelled to spend my money with you. This is a great vision statement for a company. P. 90 - The day you win the business is also the first day you start losing the business. P. 110 - I liked your idea of rewarding ee's for taking on a physical challenge. I'm going to share this with a client of mine. P. 50 - your comment back to your daughter when all she wanted was praise reminds me of being sapped in the book ZAPP! By Bill Byham. Another good read if you haven't explored it. P. 76 - Playing it safe is a sure path to mediocrity. Reminds me of a quote I heard from a former boss at Kodak which I had a friend who knows calligraphy scribe and framed it "Islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity". Taking a risk is the island of excellence and sea of mediocrity is playing it safe. P. 81 - your `client growth meetings' as what I call stewardship meetings. I hold these periodically with clients to listen to their needs and remind them of value they have received in a very soft kind of way. Also on page 129 the ROI discussion - I sometimes present a stewardship report to clients in the for of an ROI they have received and then carry on the discussion about their future needs. They are quite willing to go there when they are reminded of the value they have experienced. Chapter 21 seemed like a continuation of Chapter 20 as helping the wrong folks find the right job is also another HR ROI. P. 169 - "If you stand still, the only people who will succeed are your competitors..." reminds me of a stupid thing I did one time while working for IBM - talk about the opportunity to celebrate a failure! I needed to get further out of my comfort zone that time. Great read. Enjoyed it. Have 3 clients I want to buy it for. Keep writing and let me know when I can buy the next book.

I highly recommend this book for any professional, especially if you are in sales & marketing!

'Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes & Thinking Big', by Ralph Heath; GO AHEAD & FAIL! EMBRACE FAILURE! SEEK IT OUT! LEARN TO LOVE IT! The foregoing exuberant exhortation truly reflects my personal sentiment about what this new book, entitled 'Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes & Thinking Big' by business coach Ralph Heath is all about. Writing with warmth, sincerity & candour, the author has very skillfilly drawn from his own 31-year professional history of running Ovation Marketing, an award-winning advertising agency business, as well as "hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of personal failures to achieve outstanding or spectacular learning experiences", often interjecting pragmatic lessons from interacting with his own direct family members. There are altogether 30 great chapters, totaling just under 200 pages, & with the 'Introduction: Failure Teaches You to Succeed', that makes 31, each artfully prefaced with a short but meaningful chapter title, e.g. #1: 'Starting Fires'; #30: 'Change is My Drug of Choice'. What I like most about reading the book is that each chapter has an inspiring quote & a brisk preamble, which presents 'The Failure Factor', as well as a concise summary, which highlights the actionable insights from the author. Hence, reading is a breeze, & best of all, takeaways are right at your fingertips. That's to say, in really no uncertain terms, the entire book has been thoughtfully crafted by the author, with all the cumulative chapter insights actually forming the jewels of the book. For me, among many others, my favourite chapter is #27: 'Why Wait?'. According to the author, the word 'Wait' is one of the ugliest words in the English Language. Surprisingly to me, he has even added that it is often used in advertising agencies as a call for inaction. Nonetheless, the swift counterpoint from the author is "to take action, to move forward with your thoughts & ideas to accomplish something, instead of waiting for something - or nothing - to happen.". At the end of the reading endeavour, one can quickly use the book as a how-to manual on developing a culture of intelligent risk taking in any setting, organisational, professional or personal. The author's account of failures, setbacks & triumphs is reassuring, joyful & motivating. His writing is succinct, concise & easy-going. I highly recommend this book for any professional, especially if you are in sales & marketing. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that people from every walk of life can learn something useful from Ralph Heath's 'Celebrating Failure'. [Reviewed by Lee Say Keng, Knowledge Adventurer & Technology Explorer, July 2009]