Gurteen's Knowledge Quotes

David Gurteen has a fascinating site; have a look...

I subscribe to his (almost) daily knowledge quotes, and today's is:

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success; we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

By Samuel Smiles

I'm more than ever convinced that fear of failure, and particularly institutionalised fear of failure, is the biggest threat to innovation, personal growth and learning at all levels in our societies. If we continue to seek to blame instead of to understand, then this will only get worse.

Can we understand without blaming? Can our public organisations be accountable and be allowed to make mistakes? How do we manage that tension? What happens when people die? What deep individual motivation moves us to blame someone or something for mistakes, not only fatal ones?