Out-Fail Everyone Else Why Embracing Experimentation Is the Real Success Secret

Success stories often skip the mountain of failed attempts that lead up to a breakthrough—but inside Amazon, Booking.com, and other fast-moving organizations, out-failing the competition is the holy grail. These companies set up cultures where experiments are small, rapid, and frequent, and where failed attempts are recognized as stepping stones, not scars.

Contrast that with slow, process-heavy businesses that get stuck waiting for certainty or consensus—often, by the time they move, the window has closed. The secret: there’s rarely such thing as a truly right answer in advance; the best way to find what works is to run as many tests as possible, fail cheaply, and learn quickly. Safe, reversible choices should be made fast, with accountability sitting at the point of action, not up some distant chain of command.

It’s not just for companies—individuals who try more, fail more, and reflect more gain skills and confidence exponentially faster. In a world that rewards adaptation, your failure rate isn’t something to be ashamed of; it’s your best metric for future success.

Pick a part of your work or personal life where the stakes aren’t catastrophic, and brainstorm three quick-fire experiments you could launch this week—small tweaks, new approaches, or fresh routines. Run them without waiting for perfect approval or endless discussion. After each, write down what happened and, crucially, what you learned, even if the outcome was a flop. Share the results and learnings openly with your group or boss, emphasizing the speed and honesty of trying over just getting it perfect. By making fast, tiny failures the norm, you’re sharpening your edge—and building the knowledge base no one else can match.