Your employees are afraid to fail right now. Here's why you need to let them

INC. THIS MORNING Your employees are afraid to fail right now. Here's why you need to let them Good morning, You’ve probably heard the popular entrepreneurial mantra: “Embrace failure.” It’s shorthand for saying that taking big swings and missing is better than never taking any risks at all. Depending on the context, that can be sound advice. Of course, it’s missing two key elements. First, you have to learn from your mistakes, and move forward without repeating them. And second, the mantra needs to apply to your whole team, not just you. If your leadership leaves employees afraid of failing, they won’t perform at their best--and your company will struggle. For a great example, look at Volkswagen’s 2017 diesel engine debacle. According to some company executives, former CEO Martin Winterkorn was a demanding and authoritarian boss who abhorred failure and fostered a culture of fear. So when the company’s newly developed diesel engine didn’t meet the goals Winterkorn had publicly imposed, engineers covered up the problem instead of telling their bosses about it. When the engine hit the market, the company incurred billions of dollars in losses and damage to the brand. In these uncertain times, your employees are probably more afraid than ever to make mistakes. Check out this excerpt from Inc.com columnist Robert Glazer’s new book Friday Forward to learn how to give your team the freedom to fail without risking your company’s future. SPONSORED CONTENT The Only Real-Time E-Commerce Dashboard WITHIN is helping brands track e-commerce revenue, ad spend, CvR and more during these uncertain times. Learn what how your business compares to the benchmark, and get insights from what brands are doing to adapt and recover lost revenue. HERE'S WHAT ELSE I'M READING TODAY: This founder is on the front lines of the best--and hardest--growth industry on the planet. --Inc. Want to know if your remote company culture is a healthy one? Ask yourself these three questions. --Inc. Amazon received Federal Aviation Administration approval to operate its fleet of delivery drones, joining UPS and Alphabet-owned Wing. --CNBC Dating app Bumble is reportedly planning for an upcoming IPO that could value it between $6 to $8 billion. --Bloomberg The solution for mental toughness in difficult times: Play more. Here’s why. --Inc. While working from home, here are three things you can do to help you set boundaries and prevent burnout. --Inc. Tell us your story! Inc. magazine is looking for sources for an upcoming story. We recently heard about a coffee shop owner who studied the garbage of the Starbucks across the street. To his surprise, he learned that the empty soy milk bottles outnumbered regular milk bottles. He took the hint, leaned into advertising alternative milks, and saw his sales skyrocket. So we want to know: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve done to get intelligence on what your competitors are up to?  Give us the details of your story and you might be featured in an upcoming issue:   https://mansueto.wufoo.com/forms/how-did-you-get-a-competitive-advantage/ --Cameron Albert-Deitch Reporter, Inc. How are we doing? Send me ideas and feedback for Inc. This Morning at calbertdeitch@inc.com or on Twitter. Click here to forward to a friend. This email was sent by: Mansueto Ventures 7 World Trade Center, 29th Floor New York, NY, 10007, Unsubscribe • Update Profile • View in Browser • Privacy Policy