The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success

In her first book, McArdle, a Bloomberg View columnist and author of the blog Asymmetrical Information, presents a thought-provoking study of failure—our greatest fear and greatest motivator. McArdle’s lively prose underscores an entertaining roster of tales of risk-taking, all the way from the production of Titanic, the highest-grossing movie in history, to welfare reform. Productive failure, as described here, is characterized by intentionality; accidents are not failures. McArdle’s one stumble is her chapter-long digression into a grievance-filled tale of her mother’s hospitalization and the mismanagement of her care. She charges back with examples from her own life—getting a job with the Economist after two years of unemployment—and from companies, like GM, that have needed to accept failure as an instigator of change. Take a tip from 12-step programs, she advises; you have to recognize you have a problem before you can change. Her advice is important not only for individuals, but for wider economic growth; society has to reward experimentation, risk-taking, and working outside our comfort zones. This funny, cheerful look at helping teams overcome failure and find room to experiment will be a boon to business readers. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency. (Feb.)