Tag Archives: Failure

Culture Explorers: Agility, Fracture, Failure

Posted on November 16, 2022 by julianstodd

Sharing half a thought today with a sketch i drew earlier for the Culture Explorer programme that i’m currently prototyping. I’m using this to consider three questions: what ‘Agility’ means (and whether it’s about individual behaviours aggregated up to culture … Continue reading →

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The Apple

Posted on October 3, 2022 by julianstodd

I was looking through a book with my three year old at the weekend, and he saw a medieval illustration depicting someone standing next to an apple tree. He asked me “why is that man putting apples in a tree?”. … Continue reading →

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Confusion, Cascades and Combinant Effects

Posted on April 6, 2022 by julianstodd

Whilst attributed to Gene Kranz, Mission Controller for Apollo, the quote ‘Failure is not an option’ was actually penned by the screenwriters of the 1995 Apollo 13 film. Kranz just liked it so much that he claimed it back for … Continue reading →

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The Human Within Failure, Complexity and Control

Posted on April 5, 2022 by julianstodd

Later today i’ll deliver the first workshop around Failure, Complexity and Control: i’m as ready as i will ever be, and excited to share it. I wanted to share a final reflection on this work before it’s first outing, largely … Continue reading →

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Building Complexity

Posted on April 4, 2022 by julianstodd

This week i’m running sessions around ‘Failure, Complexity and Control’, based around my book ‘To The Moon and Back – Leadership Reflections from Apollo’. Today i’ve been working on this quick illustration as i tie up the loose ends and … Continue reading →

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Failure, Complexity and Control

Posted on March 31, 2022 by julianstodd

With some irony, i am deep in complexity as i design a workshop for next week of the same name: this is a familiar feeling. Typically i start by trying to ‘say’ too much – too many slides, too many … Continue reading →

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In Search of Risk

Posted on February 22, 2022 by julianstodd

The term ‘Risk’ defines our exposure to danger, but it’s held in many different ways, in many different spaces, and through varied mechanisms. Many of our forward facing conversations, about change, about innovation, about leadership, involve aspects of risk, some … Continue reading →

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10 Questions About Failure (And Whether It’s An Option)

Posted on June 14, 2021 by julianstodd

Gene Kranz, Mission Control chief for the Apollo moon landing, was famously attributed the quote ‘failure is not an option’. In reality, he never uttered those words (although he did borrow them for the title of his autobiography). The quote … Continue reading →

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Learning #Sketch

Posted on May 13, 2021 by julianstodd

This is an illustration of learning. It’s a pragmatic sketch, illustrating our own certainty over time, and the ways in which learning may involve disturbance, ambiguity, and a series of connections and failures, each of which carries us one step … Continue reading →

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Big Loop Learning: the Folklore of Failure

Posted on May 12, 2021 by julianstodd

Every night i sing my son to sleep with a song: it’s been the unanticipated pleasure of the Pandemic that i have been home to do this, and now, aged two, he is able to ask for the song that … Continue reading →

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