There was a provocative op/ed piece in The Globe and Mail newspaper last Monday. In it, Amanda Lang, Senior Business Correspondent for CBC News wrote that Canadians need to allow their kids to learn how to fail (read the article here). More specifically, Lang explored the idea that avoiding failure is a fundamental feature of Canadian culture that, in part, explains the chronically underwhelming levels of productivity in Canadian businesses. She suggests that the Canadian cultural traits of politeness, collaboration, valuing the collective over the individual, and celebrating participation over winning may be translating into behaviour that is focused on avoiding failure.
At the end of the article, Lang argues that unless we Canadians become comfortable with failure, and come to terms with the idea that there really is life after failure, business in the Great White North will never rise to the next level and fulfill its potential for extraordinary success in a global economy.
Lang’s article got me wondering – Are Canadians really uncomfortable with failure and are we programmed culturally to avoid failure at all costs?
It’s tempting to agree with her argument. You don’t have to look very far to see this effect in action – just watch Dragon’s Den (the Canadian version of Shark Tank). How many times have you seen the dragons fail to invest in a seemingly good business idea because the entrepreneur has a failure under their belt? And while you could argue that a television show doesn’t necessarily provide a real window on the investing climate in Canada, I would bet that it isn’t too far off. It seems that failure just isn’t something many of us Canadians want to be associated with.
But – is it really as simple as this?
I would argue that it’s actually a bit more complicated. In fact, I suspect that the real problem is in the Canadian relationship with the double-edged sword of success and failure.
The Canadian Perspective on Success
One way of defining success is to take an outcome-based approach and think of it as the state of reaching an intended objective - anything less is considered a failure. As a Canadian, I think that I can fairly say that we are, as a population, notoriously uncomfortable with success defined in this way. And setting BHAGS, achieving them, and leading in a global world (in other words, achieving large scale success) makes us almost squeamish.
Here’s an example. Just look at our collective discomfort with the “Own the Podium” sport development programme. Its primary objective is to put record numbers of Canadian athletes on the top of the podium in international sports competitions. The programme invests in those athletes with the highest potential for winning and regularly makes, and re-allocates, funding based on the “ROI” on the athlete development investment.
Aggressively pursuing success in this way just doesn’t feel “Canadian” to many. In fact, as a population, we tend to suffer from what is known as “tall poppy syndrome” - a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticized because their talents or achievements elevate them above or distinguish them from the group. Wildly successful individuals and companies that achieve stretch performance objectives and noteworthy results are often on the receiving end of envious comments and ridicule for having the audacity to dream big and actually succeed on the world stage. Given this environment, there is actually a big incentive to avoid being visibly successful from an outcome achievement perspective.
While Canada does have globally successful companies, it’s often a very well kept secret. Some might think that this is just good old Canadian modesty in action – I often wonder whether it’s an effort, unconscious or not, on the part of company leaders to be an invisible tall poppy.
As a direct result of our collective uneasiness with outcome-based success, Canadian culture has gravitated to a perspective that feels a little more comfortable (and less risky). That is, while we acknowledge the outcome-focused all or nothing approach to success, we have, as a group, settled into believing that putting in a good effort and making progress, even if the intended outcome isn’t fully achieved, is an equally relevant form of success. Taking this approach allows us, as individuals and a group, to feel that we are experiencing success without having to commit, invest, and go big. That is, we appear to have created our own low risk road to success.
The Canadian Perspective on Failure
People who take the outcome-based approach to success naturally define failure as not reaching their intended objective. When you define it this way, failure can be frequent and that hurts. No one (not just Canucks) likes to put their heart and soul into something that has a high risk of failure. But many people do just that because they have learned to get up time and time again after failure for the chance to taste success.
But what about Canadians who seem to take that process-based approach to assessing success versus failure? I suspect that, as a population, we define failure more harshly – not just as not winning. I worry that we in fact equate failure with the worst possible, most extreme outcome - losing it all financially and/or emotionally. I know many individuals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who actually see it this way. Most of us have never experienced losing everything and, as a result, we don’t have the faith that we could ever start over from a zero situation. We are generally petrified of “failure” – who wouldn’t be when you look at it like this?
And while we have all heard stories about those who arrived on our shores with almost nothing, only to achieve impressive financial success, this type of “American Dream” is not generally part of the Canadian cultural identity or the story we tell ourselves. In the end, I believe that the fear of losing big drives people and businesses into a risk-avoidance mindset that translates into hesitance to put it all on the line in an effort to achieve exceptional results and returns.
Could it be that the real problem in Canadian business is that we unconsciously fear, and therefore avoid, both outcome-based success and our collective definition of failure? I think that it could be. Ironically, as we strive to achieve our process-based approach to success, avoiding the risk of achieving massive success and standing out from the crowd, we are also able to avoid the risk of significant loss. This “up the middle” approach could explain why many Canadian companies achieve incremental improvement and only modest levels of productivity, growth, and success.
In other words, could it be that being pretty good is just fine with us as a population and business community?
To be more successful in a global world, I believe that Canadian business would do well to adopt a new relationship with success and failure. Here are five steps executives and business leaders can take to assess and, if indicated, change mindsets:
1. Honestly assess organizational attitudes about success and failure. If required, begin a process of shifting core values to create more positive attitudes about outcome-based success and a healthier definition of failure.
2. Evaluate company goals, and performance objectives and targets. Are you settling for pretty good and incremental improvement? Why? If you are setting BHAG’s, are they big enough? Why or why not? Adjusting performance goals and targets alone won’t cut it – you’ve got to adjust mindsets as well.
3. Examine corporate behaviours. Do you lop off your tall poppies or do you support and celebrate achievers and achievements? Why or why not? How does the approach to tall poppies inside your organization impact the drive to make your company a tall poppy in your industry and in the global marketplace? What do you do to cultivate and invest in your tall poppies? What should you be doing more of?
4. How does your organization define and handle failure? Create an environment where failure isn’t necessarily the worst possible outcome and don’t jump to punishing failure as a first response. Change the focus to learning from failure and avoiding repeat mistakes. Build resilience in the face of failure – create organizational capability to recover and strive for success again.
5. Focus on risk mitigation and smart risk-taking rather than risk avoidance. This opens your organization up to more opportunities for creative thinking and problem solving, innovation, and quantum leaps in performance.
Unfortunately, as Amanda Lang suggests in her article, being satisfied with year over year incremental improvements is causing Canadian businesses to leave lots of opportunity on the table – opportunity that is being lost incrementally over time.
It’s time for a change.
Agree or disagree - what's your take? Does Canadian business have a challenge when it comes to achieving success and what do you think is the root cause? Please comment and add your thoughts.
Do you think that businesses in other countries face similar challenges? What are they and what do you think the solution is? Please share your thoughts.