Ingram's citations
“We can grow our brain’s ability to solve problems (and improve the adaptability of our collective organizations) by shifting our focus from event-based outcomes to a growth mindset where failure is seen as just the beginning in solving complex problems. If we truly desire the ability to “win in a complex world,” we can’t afford the fear of failure or the luxury of shifting blame to others from enabling us to be a learning organization” (Ingram 14).
MAURER'S THREE WAYS TO DEAL WITH INEVITABLE FAILURE!
"I stress this obvious note because there are three ways in which we mortal humans can deal with our inevitable failures. Some of us ignore them. We scuttle them beneath the surface of a calm sea of bravado and confidence, hiding them as myths beneath the sea like Scylla or Atlantis. We market to ourselves the false tale that the task at which we failed was so insubstantial as to be beyond mentioning. It is a choice to believe that acceptance of failure is irrelevant to you"
Dan Maurer, 8
"Instead of ignoring our failures, we consciously lie about them. We foster or adopt an alternative version of reality in which the failure was not really a failure, but a success in disguise, a success in vitro. We just need to look through our longer telescope, and see the bigger picture, and then we see that we weren’t wrong—that we didn’t fail; rather, we were on the right track, even if we were heading blindly backwards. This course of action carries additional risk: it reinvents truth invidiously. It flips the fault so that those labeling us as flawed, or as failures, or as wrong are themselves the failures"
Dan Maurer, 9
" Instead of ignoring a failure, you must acknowledge it happened; instead of ignoring failure or shifting its meaning (to that of quasi-success) or source (it wasn’t me, per se, that failed), you must accept it as your own. In other words, we must digest our failures. I chose the eating metaphor deliberately. You might not like the taste of the food on your palate, but it was on your fork, and now it is in your belly. Food, no matter how distasteful, is a necessary human requirement because it fuels you"
Dan Maurer 10
Works Cited
Dan Maurer. “On Failure.” Modern War Institute. 04/04/17. Page 1. Paragraph 8,9,10. On Failure - Modern War Institute
Christopher G. Ingram. “6 Ways the Military Can Overcome Its Fear of Failure”. Task and purpose. 07/15/2015/ Page 1, Paragraph 14. 6 Ways The Military Can Overcome Its Fear Of Failure - Task & Purpose