Barnabas File

“I haven’t failed.  I’ve just found a thousand ways not to make a lightbulb.”—Thomas Edison   In  The Career Game Loop , author Jessica Lindl reminds us that failure is a necessary part of personal and professional growth.  She writes, “For great achievers in games and in life, failure isn’t something to fear. Failure isn’t an endpoint, and it isn’t a reflection of who they are.”  She makes these points:   First, failure is inevitable. When you try something that you (or no one else) has ever done, you can expect that you won’t be successful the first time.  One of the things that holds back innovation (especially in churches) is the idea that something needs to be perfect the first time out of the box. Let’s give each other a bit or grace and freedom to make mistakes.   Second, failure is data.  Something is a failure only if you fail to learn from it.  When something doesn’t work, it still provides da...

Although we have heard the quote, attributed to Gene Kranz, “Failure is not an option,” in some contexts we should encourage failure.     Amy Edmondson, in her presentation at the 2020 Global Leadership Summit, suggested that this might be our best approach to innovation and change. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School.   She first identified three types of failure: Preventative failure--We should know better and make sure it does not happen. Complex failure--We did not know better, and the failure is the consequence of unforeseen circumstances. Intelligence failure--We intentionally launch out into novel territory, acknowledging the potential to fail. Intelligent failure offers opportunities for learning and growth.  Edmondson argued that we should promote intelligent failures if the following is true: The opportunity explored is significant.     This is a chance to do something that is new or...

Were you alive when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on  January 28, 1986?  The crew of seven all died including a civilian,  Christa McAuliffe, the first “teacher in space.”  The investigation that followed indicated that the fatal flaw that caused the disaster were rubber “O-ring” seals in the shuttle boosters that deteriorated due to the cold temperatures prior to launch.  Although this design concern had been raised earlier, no one took it seriously until the explosion of the shuttle and the deaths of all on board.   During this Coronavirus pandemic, we are faced with challenges that we have not faced before, both personally and professionally.  As we seek to respond, we find flaws not only in ourselves but in the organizations in which we work.  These flaws were always there but did not rise to the surface until the crisis.   To think specifically about faith-based organizations such as churches,...

“It is better to try something and fail rather than try nothing and succeed.” --Anonymous As we minister in a VUCA world  of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, we have to be willing to take chances.  In these times, the way forward is not always clear, and our skills may be lacking, but we will learn more from action than inaction.  What guides this type of risk-taking? First, we have to be ready to respond to the unexpected.  During these days of the Coronavirus crisis, many church leaders are trying things that they have never done before, especially in relation to digital communication and online engagement.  Churches that never considered offering their worship services online are putting Sunday worship on the internet and offering daily devotions on video.  Bible study classes, youth gathering, children’s events, and committee meetings are being conducted by teleconference.  Some of these a...

In one of my seminary classes, I ask students to write a final paper describing what they have to offer as a missional leader--one who leads a church or organization to embrace the missio Dei --mission of God.   On several occasions, students have cited the quality of resilience. Resilience is defined in the dictionary as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”  Much like grit and mindset, this has become a topic of research in positive psychology where it is seen as the  ability to cope with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. In most cases, those students who cite resilience as a personal characteristic have identified it as a result of life experience--failure in a project or program, loss of a job, rejection by a significant other, or death of an important person in their lives. This is not a theoretical attribute but one that they have practiced and recognized in themselves. What are some things that ca...

NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz When I visited the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, a couple of years ago, I noticed a tote bag in the gift shop with these words: “Failure is not an option.”   Although the quote is attributed to Gene Kranz, the NASA flight director of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, he never said it.    Actor Ed Harris, who portrayed Kranz in the Apollo 13 film, does use the line and Kranz himself adopted it as the title for his autobiography. The phrase itself is a great motivator but in reality we must admit that failure is always an option in any endeavor that involves risk or creativity.  Failure is part of life. Someone said, “The saddest thing in the world is not to fail but not to have tried.”  If we risk greatly, there is always the chance that we will fail . . . and that’s all right.  It is in failing that we learn and grow. The failure of the Apollo 13 space craft created the opportunit...

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”—Alexander Pope If you have ever been in a leadership role, this has happened to you.  Someone has accepted an assignment, and you not only expect them to complete it, but you are depending on them to do it.  Then they pull out, fail to show up, or don’t follow through.  What’s a leader do in this situation? First, don’t get angry.  You are not only wasting your energy but your time as well.  What is done is done, so focus all that energy on assessing the situation, picking up the pieces, and moving on.  If the task is important, give your attention to completing it. Second, recognize your responsibility.  Did you fail to provide something that the person needed?  Were you disconnected and not aware of their progress or lack thereof?  Where did communication break down?  Accept responsibility if necessary.  Now that’s out of the way.  Let’s move on. Third, as my Grandda...

When we visited the National Air and Space Museum recently, I noticed a tote bag in the gift shop with these words: “Failure is not an option.”  Although the quote is attributed to Gene Kranz, the NASA flight director of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, he never said it.  Actor Ed Harris, who portrayed Kranz in the Apollo 13 film, does use the line and Kranz himself adopted it for his autobiography. The phrase itself is a great motivator but in reality we must admit that failure is always an option in any endeavor that involves risk or creativity.  Failure is part of life. Someone said, “The saddest thing in the world is not to fail but not to have tried.”  If we risk greatly, there is always the chance that we will fail . . . and that’s all right.  It is in failing that we learn and grow. The failure of the Apollo 13 space craft created the opportunity for success in finding ways to adapt existing hardware and systems onboard the...

I was spoiled early in my ministry by a supervisor who accepted failure as part of the learning process. I was sharing with him some of the things that I had tried that did not work and he responded, “Keep on trying until you find out what works.” As a result of this encouragement, I embrace the quote by Dale Turner:   “To have tried to do something and failed is vastly better than to have tried to do nothing and succeeded.” We experience failure in life.   We fail in relationships, in projects, in achieving goals, and many other ways too numerous to count.   Not to recognize our failures is a failure in itself!   The only way to avoid failure is to do nothing.   The key to moving forward is deciding what we will do with failure.   There are several possibilities. First, we can ignore failure.   We can go blithely on our way.    In so doing, we learn nothing and keep repeating the same mistakes with the same results.   A...