A new kind of excellence

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An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel, and came upon a casket containing a mummy, a relatively rare occurrence in Israel, to say the least. After examining it, he called Abe, the curator of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

“I’ve just discovered a 3,000-year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!” the excited scientist exclaimed.

Abe replied, “Bring him in. We’ll check it out.”

A week later, Abe was amazed and called the archaeologist.

“You were right about both the mummy’s age and cause of death. How in the world did you know?”

“Easy. A piece of paper in his hand said, ‘10,000 shekels bet on Goliath.’”

This funny but untrue story illustrates a point.

Are you still betting on a secure and predictable future? Spoiler alert! You will lose. Chronic instability is the new normal, and this is a leadership issue.

Today’s best leaders avoid neither failure nor uncertainty, while others try to avoid failure at all costs. The leaders who achieve success identify which failures should be stopped and which should be supported.

Many have believed success results from hard work for several decades, but failure emerges from laziness. That might be true in stable environments, but the current environment is outside the boundaries of stability.

Scientists confirm that outstanding work does not automatically produce success. Hard work can lead directly to failure, and the path to success may depend on chance and timing. We need to embrace the imperfect connection between what we do and what we achieve.

So, what does this mean for leadership?

Leaders need to redefine failure. All failures lack equal value.

There are three types of failures, and not all are bad.

There are BASIC FAILURES.

The process generates straightforward mistakes that occur when working in well-known conditions. For example, a checklist was missed, or a step was skipped. These should be minimized, if not eliminated.

And then there are COMPLEX FAILURES.

Complex failures emerge through small system interactions, which become significant problems, particularly in essential sectors such as health care. Multiple insignificant errors create a critical issue through a process of accumulation. The main strategies to prevent these problems include anticipation and mitigation measures.

And then there are INTELLIGENT FAILURES.

The situation becomes both critical and essential at this point. There is a thoughtful exploration of new territories that produces these outcomes. You can’t Google the answer. Chat GPT 4.5 (the paid version) cannot help you. You’ve done your homework. You’re testing a hypothesis, taking smart risks in small, contained ways – and it does not work.

But you need to understand that intelligent failures are the right kind of wrong. The organization needs intelligent failures because these provide the necessary conditions for innovation, growth and long-term achievement.

An intelligent failure loses its intelligence when you repeat it more than once. Organizational success demands that you retrieve knowledge from failures and then use it to advance your operations.

Organizations need to change. And leading change requires a new mindset. Our thinking must adapt first if we want our organizations to transform.

Excellence today requires a mindset shift:

• Organizations should minimize fundamental failures through the implementation of robust systems.

• Organizations should reduce complex failures through awareness programs combined with team collaboration.

• Meanwhile, leaders should establish psychological safety to promote intelligent failures by rewarding their teams for conducting small experiments with clever and innovative strategies.

Excellence should be defined as awareness rather than perfection. And I would even go so far as to say that handling intelligent failures and handling failures intelligently is a new kind of excellence.

The present world requires awareness of human mistakes, process breakdowns and intelligent risk-taking as the only path forward.

When leaders avoid losing, they block their teams’ growth potential. Organizations that allow their teams to experiment and learn continuously will secure their future success. The real challenge lies in developing proper failure spaces for your team members, your company and all your areas of influence.

This fast-changing world rewards only those who implement successful failure strategies.

So now you know. Don’t wager on Goliath!

Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, and other podcast streaming platforms.