Failures that Drive Company Success

I have recently had the opportunity to moderate several live seminars focused on how CFOs have successfully driven growth at their companies.  A common theme was that creating a culture where failure was an option was a key factor in driving top line growth. It became clear that many of the ideas, processes and strategic initiatives that drove growth at the companies of these successful CFOs were born from past mistakes and lessons learned.   Of course, this is much easier said than done, but as finance leaders are charged with driving growth they need to engage operations, sales and marketing and that will may mean more bumps in the road along the way in driving sustainable growth.  As more parties are truly involved in strategic decisions a culture of finger pointing and blame for failures can place an inherent barrier to growth that may not be able to be overcome for many companies.  Finance leaders who understand and view risks as opportunities borne that come will failure as the price of admission on some level along the path to success, and foster a culture within which failures does not mean damage to careers of those leading strategic initiatives, will bear the fruits of one of the most valuable assets that any leader at this disposal, lessons learned from his or her own failures.