The Freakonomics podcast delivered some inspiring insights today, focusing on a spectrum of failure assessment, from the most blameworthy to the most commendable. Failure, in this context, is defined as a preventable negative event. Amy Edmondson, a guest on the podcast, categorized the causes of failure into six distinct categories:
- Sabotage
- Inattention
- Inability
- Task challenge
- Uncertainty
- Experimentation
While these categories are distinct, most failure events likely result from a combination of several causes. They may represent the most significant contributing factors or the decisive factors that lead to failure. In essence, failures are often the outcome of multiple causes. Nonetheless, it is valuable to dissect these causes and assess their individual severity.
That’s insightful!