Failure coexists with success.
Take the case of Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales and operations, who recently committed an error that cost Google several million dollars. "Bad decision, moved too quickly, no controls in place, wasted some money," is what she'll say about it.
When Sandberg realized the magnitude of her mistake, she informed Larry Page, Google's co-founder. "God, I feel really bad about this," she told Page, who accepted her apology. But as she turned to leave, Page said something that surprised her. "I'm so glad you made this mistake," he said. "Because I want to run a company where we are moving too quickly and doing too much, not being too cautious and doing too little. If we don't have any of these mistakes, we're not taking enough risk."
Page and his co-founder had a head start on learning how to fail quickly and recover fast at work. They know if Google's engine is running fast, then is also running hot. That sheds light on all kinds of blunders which Google likes to explain away as its 'Googley' approach to business.
Source: FORTUNE October 2, 2006
