THE SPINNAKER

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION... OR IS IT?

by Matt Mueller, Town Manager

It has been a sad couple of weeks as I have missed the sweet, smoky smell of BBQ coming from down the street. While the loss of the opportunity to work myself into a meat-induced coma so close to my office has positively affected my wallet and waistline, it has definitely been disappointing.

I say this jokingly, but the closure of this restaurant does sting a little bit Small businesses come and go; in the grand scheme of things, it is one business out of the many we have in the community However, since this was a key recruitment in The Lakefront™ District and there was a lot of excitement and fanfare about it coming to the area, the closure has drawn much attention and disappointment In many ways, this business going away may feel like a failure.

It is never fun when things don’t go according to plan, and no amount of past success can take away the sting when something fails (ask the 2007 New England Patriots who had a perfect season before losing in the Super Bowl). However, failure is an inevitable part of innovation and lofty goals.

In a previous position, I worked with two assistant city managers who approached their strategic plans differently One manager always played it safe setting goals that they knew could be accomplished, therefore always completing the items in their strategic plans

The other manager set goals that were bold and often unattainable The divisions under the first manager always accomplished what they said they would but never really pushed the boundaries and did anything groundbreaking. The divisions under the second manager often failed to check the “completed” box on many of their goals, but their service usually moved forward by leaps and bounds and was driven by innovation.

Was the second manager a failure because they didn’t accomplish all their goals, or were they genuinely successful because they were not satisfied with playing it safe?

Failure is unacceptable due to poor work ethic, lack of attention to detail, or making decisions without our Core Values in mind Still, failure is sometimes inevitable when pursuing stretch goals or innovation to accomplish a defined vision With a commitment to innovation, there must be some risk tolerance and acceptance of failure If we want to achieve our goals, we must keep working toward our vision even when things don’t go according to plan

Both success and failure allow us to learn Success will enable us to analyze what went right and see how we can replicate it Failure allows us to look at what went wrong and take the lessons we learn into the next attempt to do it better.

In the public setting, being risk averse is playing it safe. Detractors and critics love it when things go wrong because it allows them to condemn something they didn’t like.

However, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat ”

I wholeheartedly believe in Innovation as one of our Core Values Furthermore, we must keep up with the changing needs of our growing community and provide services that meet their needs

Little Elm’s definition of innovation talks about challenging the status quo and trying new things through reasonable risk.

If we truly believe in this (and I do), we can’t just champion innovation and risk-taking when things go right. We must also stay strong and stay the course when things go wrong.