Fail forward: How embracing failure accelerates innovation

Failure and innovation are two sides of the same coin, but companies can easily forget this when striving for perfection. As humans we’re naturally drawn to celebrating success. We focus on the glory of winning and the outcomes of groundbreaking products while often glossing over the string of missteps, experiments, and failures along the way. 

But ignoring failure is a mistake. Yes, failure has negative connotations, but it’s often a critical stepping stone to success. Miro’s research highlights this disconnect: 62% of enterprise leaders believe fear of failure stifles their ability to innovate. This fear creates a culture where conformity replaces bold thinking, and opportunities for transformative breakthroughs are lost. 

At Canvas 24 in London we invited two inspiring product leaders, Jessica Hall, Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway, and Arunima Kapoor Duqee, Innovation Catalyst Director, to take on this challenging topic. Our discussion focused on this central question: “Why does failure — and the way you fail — matter in innovation?”

In this blog, I’ll discuss five key strategies to embrace failure strategically. Read on to learn how failure can accelerate the innovation cycle — and get some examples of successful companies turning their missteps into greatness. 

Redefine failure as feedback 

Failure is often seen as a verdict — an indication of inadequacy or even a sign to stop trying. But destigmatizing failure is essential for fostering a culture where experimentation becomes a tool for growth. For innovation to thrive, you must first redefine failure as constructive, redirecting feedback. 

At Miro, each failed attempt brings us closer to understanding what works. Instead of demonizing feedback, our experimentation mindset encourages us to analyze valuable data from our failure that shapes our next steps. Many of the world’s most innovative companies also use this approach to achieve success. Take YouTube, for example. Conceived as a video dating platform called “Tune In, Hook Up,” users were invited to upload videos of themselves describing the partner of their dreams. But feedback from the internet community revealed users weren’t interested, even when offered $20 each to participate. Instead, YouTube’s creators listened to the market and ditched the dating angle to become the world’s largest video sharing platform. 

To truly embrace failure as feedback, organizations must analyze mistakes as part of a deliberate process and document lessons learned from every project outcome. By doing so, you’ll reframe failure as an insight that guides the next steps in your innovation journey.

Don’t just reflect. Act. 

The real power of failure lies in the ability to turn reflection into action. Too often, teams review what went wrong but stop short of applying those insights to drive meaningful change. Instead, they quickly move on, avoiding discomfort.

Admitting a mistake and dissecting it requires courage, and a willingness to embrace vulnerability both as individuals and as organizations. Without these qualities, teams may leave unsuccessful products and initiatives dormant, rather than taking the difficult decision to admit defeat and extract value from the learnings. 

During our panel discussion, Jessica Hall agreed that failure is only useful if you use it for growth. “As a leader, I’m not saying that total failure is fine. You can experiment, but bring the learnings,” she explained. 

Leaders are pivotal to cultivating the courage needed to normalize vulnerability and embrace those learning moments. Jessica Hall explained, “It’s about personally getting comfortable with not always achieving the outcome you strived for. It’s OK to be vulnerable and admit you made mistakes,” she explained, emphasizing that failure is a natural part of career growth and innovation. 

Netflix demonstrated the value of this lesson in 2011 by acting on the company’s poor decision to split its DVD rental and streaming service into two separate brands. Ultimately, this reflection shaped Netflix’s strategic pivot to becoming the global leader in streaming entertainment. 

At Miro, we also approach every project — whether a success or failure — as an opportunity to refine our processes, reassess our strategies, and align more closely with our goals. Structured retrospectives are at the heart of this practice. These deliberate, post-project reviews uncover actionable insights we can apply to future efforts, ensuring we never waste our missteps. 

You, too, can identify these lessons and ask, “What’s next?” How can we apply what we’ve learned to improve, pivot, or innovate? This step shifts the focus from what went wrong to what you can do better next time, creating a culture of continuous improvement. 

Balance experimentation with accountability 

Innovation thrives at the intersection of experimentation and accountability. Balancing risk-taking with preparation allows you to ground each experiment with objectives so you’re not stomping forward recklessly without a clear plan. “It’s not about randomly doing stuff,” says Arunima Kapoor Duque, Innovation Catalyst Director of the Lego Group, “It’s about iterative cycles of work — testing assumptions, running experiments, and using the evidence to make better decisions.” 

Experimentation distinguishes between good failure — where you learn and adapt — and bad failure where the impact is vast and negative. Pace plays a critical role in achieving this balance. Moving too fast increases the risk of costly mistakes while moving too slowly can stunt progress, waste valuable time, and keep you from meeting customer needs. A mad dash in a certain direction is much more likely to lead to absolute failure, but well-planned experimentation builds evidence to guide future action.

Leaders are instrumental to this disciplined approach, particularly when tough decisions are required. They must have the confidence to kill, pivot, or persevere based on the evidence gathered during experimentation, even if that information isn’t complete or perfect. This allows them to direct resources where they’re most effective, so they align with strategic goals and customer expectations.

At Miro, we use stage gates to calculate the risks we’re willing to take, ensuring each experiment aligns with our strategic goals. This balance between preparation and iterative testing mitigates risks while fostering continuous improvement. Another example of a company that committed to rigorous testing is WD-40, the household brand whose name reflects the 39 failed attempts it took to perfect its water displacement formula. This persistence underscores the importance of moving at the right pace — testing ideas carefully but decisively until you achieve a result. 

At your company, you can maintain accountability throughout the innovation process by using clear checkpoints that assess progress and validate assumptions so you never waste resources or veer too far from your customers’ needs. 

Foster a safe environment for risk-taking

We’ve learned that it’s essential to create nurturing, trusting spaces where everyone can share and refine their ideas. An atmosphere of psychological safety encourages fresh ideas and experimentation, removing the pressure of perfection and fostering progress over immediate success. 

Leaders play a key role in normalizing risk-taking by sharing their own failures and lessons learned. When vulnerability is modeled from the top down, teams feel empowered to explore possibilities, knowing their efforts are valued, even when outcomes fall short. 

Pixar provides a great example of this mindset.. The film production company holds Braintrust meetings, where leaders invite open and constructive feedback from their team members. These happen periodically throughout a film’s lifecycle, encouraging passionate people to share candid ideas, opinions, and criticisms about the project. For example, Toy Story 2 faced early challenges with its story and production. But by providing a psychologically safe space for creative experimentation, Braintrust feedback saved the movie by reimagining it and turning it into a beloved sequel. 

“The hardest part of any job for me is managing people and their feelings,” described Jessica Hall. But making failure feel safe in your workplace is worth the investment. The ritual of retrospectives or taking the time to reflect at the end of the year are just two examples of how you can find space for assessment and expression. Psychological safety goes beyond these scheduled activities — it must be embedded firmly into your company culture to truly foster an environment for growth and innovation. . 

Promote transparency 

It’s important to challenge the misconception that failure is purely psychological — something to fear, avoid, or overcome. Many failures also stem from systemic issues like flawed processes or misaligned strategies. Take Theranos as an example. This failed company promised to revolutionize blood testing using technology that didn’t deliver. Rather than be transparent about its failings, the company desperately hid its unscrupulous processes and mistakes until the company lost its license and eventually dissolved. 

Innovation thrives when organizations champion transparency and use systems to make successes and failures visible. Without these structures, valuable insights are hidden away in siloed teams, which limits their impact. 

Miro’s regular communication channels, like email updates and internal collaboration tools, act as these systems, spotlighting our experiments, wins, and failures. With each update, we create effective feedback loops that translate isolated efforts into actionable insights that everyone can benefit from. 

Organizations looking to promote transparency can encourage team members to share both the successes and failures they’ve experienced. Once again, it falls on leaders to wear their battle scars on their sleeves and demonstrate that mistakes are an absolute necessity for growth. 

It’s time to reframe failure as a stepping stone to innovation 

Failure is essential in innovation. When approached strategically, it becomes a powerful enablement tool rather than an obstacle. By fostering a culture that values learning and experimentation, organizations can accelerate their innovation cycles and create impactful solutions. Let’s embrace failure — not as an end, but as a beginning.

Ready to embrace your missteps and turn them into triumphs? Download our Failure Analysis template to discover powerful learning opportunities. 

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