Lean Quote: Be Willing to Fail In Order To Achieve Your Goal

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." — Robert F. Kennedy

Failures can either destroy or advance our goals, but it's our response to them that truly determines the outcome. If we are too afraid of failure to try then we will never know if we can improve our situation. 

Past failures prepare you for future successes. It’s the old adage, “Learn from your mistakes”. Failures help you realize what didn’t work, so you can find what will work. 

 If we allow ourselves to become discouraged during the learning process we may give up right before we reach our goal. Anytime we learn from our efforts we are in the process of succeeding. Each lesson brings us closer to our intended result. 

The real failure is trying nothing to improve your situation. Lean is about thinking and making improvements. Some ideas work and some ideas don’t. What management needs to do is create a safe environment where it is OK to fail.