Learning from Events Mismanagement

Abstract

peaking to his son after a cataclysmic fire destroyed much of Thomas Edison’s life’s work, the prolific inventor famously said: “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” (Clemmer, 1999: 94) This quote on coping with failure is one of many to offer inspiration during dif- ficult times. Indeed, any number of entrepreneurs, leaders or captains of industry say the foundation of their success was a positive attitude to failure. There can be no doubt that there is much to learn from mistakes, mishaps, failures, and disasters. In fact, it would be very bad management not to seek to do so. Whilst learning from failure is a fundamental aspect of lifelong learning, it should also be a basic tenet of good management. Therefore, this chapter aims to do three things. First, it explores the nature of management learning within the context of learning from failure. Second, it examines the range of management disciplines, approaches, and techniques which event managers might use to help them avoid failures. Third, it addresses each of these within the context of events management failures. This chapter is thus designed to both underpin the case studies presented throughout the book, and to help inform the reader’s understanding and application of the lessons to be learned.