An allostasis theory of failure
Failing to get ahead
Pushing your boundaries begets failure, whereas repeating the same behaviour yields the same results1. Improvement requires handling failure for you and your team.
Failure for failure's sake is a moot point, which we can see by comparing to homeostasis and allostasis. Homeostasis originates in biology and means that when disrupted, the body strives to reinstate the equilibrium from before the disruption. Approaching failure via a homeostasis view means no adaptation, treating only the "symptoms". If you lose your temper, an apology might settle the case, but it does not prevent the underlying issue.
Failures can be informative. If we use them as a learning signal2, we can grow from them.
We do not return to the same state as before the failure. This is what allostasis describes via an order-disorder-reorder cycle, emphasizing the post-failure adaptation.
A good example is science, which proceeds one failed experiment at a time. A "failed" experiment is not a bad one. It just means that the result is not as expected. But this is still useful if the experiment is technically flawless.
Dig Deeper
One more thing before you go: many of the ideas in this newsletter are inspired by others. A prominent source of my inspiration comes from The Growth Equation. They now launched a unique opportunity, The Growth Equation Academy. If you like the topics I write about, you might benefit from checking it out. I do; this is why I am sharing. That is to say, this is not a paid endorsement.
If the environment is stochastic, you can make a rational decision and still have bad luck. However, this doesn't make your decision bad.