Book Review: Right Kind of Wrong

Is there a right way to fail? And a right kind of wrong? Amy Edmonson certainly believes so and makes her case in her recently released book Right kind of wrong: Why learning to fail can teach us to thrive (2023, Cornerstone Press). Amy Edmonson, a professor at Harvard Business School and the world’s leading expert on psychological safety, believes that her book “offers a typology of failure that helps you sort out the “right kind of wrong” form the failures that you should work hard to precents, and that you will learn how to think differently about yourself and failure, recognize contexts in which failures are likely, and understand the role of systems.

All of the points made throughout the book are supported not only with science, but illustrated with stories and case studies that bring the concepts alive. Another thing going for this book is that Edmunson honestly admits that her ideas are easy but addresses the hurdles one might encounter. While parts of this may not be easy, the consequences are very worthwhile.

The first prat of the book explores the three types of failure – intelligent, basic, and complex, and puts them into context with some high-level tools for dealing with them. The second part of the book delves “deeper into tactics and habits that allow people to practice the science of failing well at work and in their lives.”

I really appreciated the positive tone that the book ends with, captured in the title of the final chapter ‘Thriving as a fallible human being’. It is a realistic yet optimistic way to finish this excellent book.