Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive book cover

Right Kind of Wrong Summary

Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive

Amy Edmondson
3.92(2341 Reviews)

Right Kind of Wrong Summary Overview

Discover why failure is your greatest asset in Harvard professor Amy Edmondson's award-winning "Right Kind of Wrong." Named Financial Times Business Book of 2023, it reveals three types of failures that drive innovation. Daniel Pink calls it essential: "No skill is more important than learning from failure."

Key Themes in the Right Kind of Wrong Summary

  • intelligent failure
  • psychological safety
  • growth mindset
  • error management
  • organizational learning

Best Quotes from the Right Kind of Wrong Summary

  • Not all failures are equal.

  • Our brains are literally wired against it.

  • Failure is 'ego threatening, which causes people to tune out.'

  • Social media exacerbates our reluctance to share failures.

  • We often bring an execution mindset to learning tasks.

Characters in the Right Kind of Wrong Summary

  • Amy EdmondsonAuthor and Harvard professor of management
  • Dr. Clarence DennisSurgeon who pioneered heart-lung bypass machines
  • Paul O'NeillFormer Alcoa CEO focused on worker safety

About the Author

About the Author of Right Kind of Wrong

Amy C. Edmondson, author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, is a world-renowned organizational leadership expert and the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. A pioneering researcher in psychological safety and team dynamics, Edmondson’s work explores how organizations can harness failure as a catalyst for innovation—a theme central to this business and self-help genre book.

Her insights stem from decades of studying high-performing teams, notably detailed in her bestselling The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace and Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, both widely taught in MBA programs.

Edmondson, ranked #1 on Thinkers50’s 2023 list of top management thinkers, frequently shares her research through TED Talks (4M+ views) and podcasts like Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast. Her frameworks are adopted by Fortune 500 companies and institutions seeking to build resilient, learning-focused cultures. Right Kind of Wrong distills her groundbreaking research into actionable strategies, cementing her reputation as a leading voice in redefining failure’s role in success.

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