{"id":47600,"date":"2022-08-04T11:41:48","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T09:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=47600"},"modified":"2025-11-18T14:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T12:02:11","slug":"learning-to-embrace-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Embrace Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Learning to Embrace Failure | MIT Sloan\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dnF29vV3PxQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leaders must be willing to have their fundamental assumptions challenged if they are to move their business forward. Often it\u2019s the toughest questions that produce the most productive and transformative results. Are you ready to analyze the way you do business?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have this worldview and mental map about how things work and don\u2019t work, and the issue to be able to creatively find and solve challenges better and ask the better questions to do that, is really figuring out what parts of that map are just dead wrong.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">California, at one point, was an island. Yes, indeed. If you go back to the 1500s, explorers were sent from Spain in search of an island that was full of riches. So they get to the Gulf of California, where you\u2019ve got a peninsula of the earth coming down on this side. You\u2019ve got Mexico here. The explorers have been sent from Spain to find an island full of riches \u2013 they\u2019re at the end of a long journey, they\u2019re going up that Gulf of California, and they see land on the left, land on the right, water ahead, water behind \u2013 for hundreds of miles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They conclude California is an island. Then to confirm that it\u2019s an island, they send other explorers to the top of the island of California. They get to where the river Mendocino comes into the Pacific Ocean. They conclude that must be the top of the Island. They put it on the map. They go back and tell the cartographers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then it\u2019s confirmed: California is an island for sure. Then a few years later, they send more explorers. When they get to what they think is going to be the island, they discover it\u2019s not. In fact, the \u2018island\u2019 of California is attached to the land of North America. They tell the cartographers and the king, and they get severely punished for trying to challenge the map.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1500s, California was an island \u2013 even though literally 20 or 30 years later, there was strong evidence it wasn\u2019t. The island persisted on the map for close to two centuries because the maps we carry meant power and control, and an unwillingness to give it up. The map was right. And any data suggesting otherwise was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What we have to do as leaders is not be like the royalty who wanted the \u2018island\u2019 of California to be an island. We have to be willing to have our deep, fundamental assumptions challenged about the way we do our work. It might be as individuals, it might be as a team, it might be as an organization. The toughest thing to do at work and in life is to challenge those fundamental assumptions, but the most productive questions on planet Earth are, in fact, the ones that do exactly that.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders must be willing to have their fundamental assumptions challenged if they are to move their business forward. Often it\u2019s the toughest questions that produce the most productive and transformative results. Are you ready to analyze the way you do business? Transcript We have this worldview and mental map about how things work and don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":47601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[127],"article-format":[],"class_list":["post-47600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-career-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Learning to Embrace Failure - GetSmarter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hal Gregersen, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains why asking the right questions can foster transformative change.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning to Embrace Failure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hal Gregersen, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains why asking the right questions can foster transformative change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetSmarter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T12:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aaminah Allie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GetSmarter Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/learning-to-embrace-failure\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/learning-to-embrace-failure\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aaminah Allie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd2f83fcd9d19a49e609bf9329d13186\"},\"headline\":\"Learning to Embrace Failure\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T12:02:11+00:00\",\"wordCount\":491,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/learning-to-embrace-failure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Career advice\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Career Advice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/learning-to-embrace-failure\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":844},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/learning-to-embrace-failure\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<meta property=\"og:video\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dnF29vV3PxQ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:type\" content=\"text\/html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:duration\" content=\"190\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:adult\" content=\"false\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:upload_date\" content=\"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:allow_embed\" content=\"true\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning to Embrace Failure - GetSmarter Blog","description":"Hal Gregersen, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains why asking the right questions can foster transformative change.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning to Embrace Failure","og_description":"Hal Gregersen, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains why asking the right questions can foster transformative change.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/","og_site_name":"GetSmarter Blog","article_published_time":"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-18T12:02:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":844,"url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Aaminah Allie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GetSmarter Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/"},"author":{"name":"Aaminah Allie","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dd2f83fcd9d19a49e609bf9329d13186"},"headline":"Learning to Embrace Failure","datePublished":"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T12:02:11+00:00","wordCount":491,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg","keywords":["Career advice"],"articleSection":["Career Advice"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner-learning-to-embrace-failure.jpg","width":1500,"height":844},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/learning-to-embrace-failure\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog"}]}]},"og_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dnF29vV3PxQ","og_video_type":"text\/html","og_video_duration":"190","og_video_width":"480","og_video_height":"270","ya_ovs_adult":"false","ya_ovs_upload_date":"2022-08-04T09:41:48+00:00","ya_ovs_allow_embed":"true"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47600"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52764,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47600\/revisions\/52764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47600"},{"taxonomy":"article-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-format?post=47600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}