Adam Grant

There's a Madsen and Desai study of the orbital launch industry that I think puts a point on this where they basically study every organization that has ever launched a rocket into space over half a century. And what they want to know is, when do you make a leap forward in your success rate? And the answer is, it's after a really big fail. Because a small failure, you can explain it away.

There's a Madsen and Desai study of the orbital launch industry that I think puts a point on this where they basically study every organization that has ever launched a rocket into space over half a century. And what they want to know is, when do you make a leap forward in your success rate? And the answer is, it's after a really big fail. Because a small failure, you can explain it away.

There's a Madsen and Desai study of the orbital launch industry that I think puts a point on this where they basically study every organization that has ever launched a rocket into space over half a century. And what they want to know is, when do you make a leap forward in your success rate? And the answer is, it's after a really big fail. Because a small failure, you can explain it away.

You can move on really quickly. A big failure forces you. It stops you in your tracks to do the postmortem and to ask yourself, OK, what went wrong there? And how are we going to prevent that moving forward? And I think, obviously, we all need to do these when we flop. But I've become a big fan also of doing premortems, which Gary Klein has studied.

You can move on really quickly. A big failure forces you. It stops you in your tracks to do the postmortem and to ask yourself, OK, what went wrong there? And how are we going to prevent that moving forward? And I think, obviously, we all need to do these when we flop. But I've become a big fan also of doing premortems, which Gary Klein has studied.

You can move on really quickly. A big failure forces you. It stops you in your tracks to do the postmortem and to ask yourself, OK, what went wrong there? And how are we going to prevent that moving forward? And I think, obviously, we all need to do these when we flop. But I've become a big fan also of doing premortems, which Gary Klein has studied.

So the idea of a premortem is you say, okay, we're about to make a big decision as a group, or I've got a big choice in front of me. And let's assume in the next few years, with the benefit of hindsight, we conclude this was an unmitigated disaster. What are the most likely causes of that failure?

So the idea of a premortem is you say, okay, we're about to make a big decision as a group, or I've got a big choice in front of me. And let's assume in the next few years, with the benefit of hindsight, we conclude this was an unmitigated disaster. What are the most likely causes of that failure?

So the idea of a premortem is you say, okay, we're about to make a big decision as a group, or I've got a big choice in front of me. And let's assume in the next few years, with the benefit of hindsight, we conclude this was an unmitigated disaster. What are the most likely causes of that failure?

when you have that conversation upfront or when you do that reflection upfront, you get better at seeing around corners and anticipating what might go wrong. And then you can actually prevent it from happening in the first place.

when you have that conversation upfront or when you do that reflection upfront, you get better at seeing around corners and anticipating what might go wrong. And then you can actually prevent it from happening in the first place.

when you have that conversation upfront or when you do that reflection upfront, you get better at seeing around corners and anticipating what might go wrong. And then you can actually prevent it from happening in the first place.

And I think there's a version of that that's a little bit like the opposite of what psychologists call post-traumatic growth, where something awful happens to you and you're not grateful that it happened, but you damn well commit that you're gonna grow from it. Well, I don't think we always have to go through trauma to get the growth, right?

And I think there's a version of that that's a little bit like the opposite of what psychologists call post-traumatic growth, where something awful happens to you and you're not grateful that it happened, but you damn well commit that you're gonna grow from it. Well, I don't think we always have to go through trauma to get the growth, right?

And I think there's a version of that that's a little bit like the opposite of what psychologists call post-traumatic growth, where something awful happens to you and you're not grateful that it happened, but you damn well commit that you're gonna grow from it. Well, I don't think we always have to go through trauma to get the growth, right?

You could have pre-traumatic growth where you anticipate the things that could go horribly and then try to prepare yourself for the lessons that those events might teach you.

You could have pre-traumatic growth where you anticipate the things that could go horribly and then try to prepare yourself for the lessons that those events might teach you.

You could have pre-traumatic growth where you anticipate the things that could go horribly and then try to prepare yourself for the lessons that those events might teach you.

So in psychology, my favorite definition of worrying is attempted problem solving. And I think the attempted is the part that sometimes we forget, right? You don't always solve your problem by worrying, but you are able to see it more clearly as you worry about it. And then the goal is to make a distinction between reflection and rumination. I think for a lot of people, this is a slippery slope.

So in psychology, my favorite definition of worrying is attempted problem solving. And I think the attempted is the part that sometimes we forget, right? You don't always solve your problem by worrying, but you are able to see it more clearly as you worry about it. And then the goal is to make a distinction between reflection and rumination. I think for a lot of people, this is a slippery slope.