American inventor Thomas Edison and the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs have a significant factor in common. Aside from revolutionising the way we live, these innovators failed multiple times.
Before inventing the light bulb, Edison failed 10,000 times. When asked about his failures, he famously said: “I have not failed 10,000 times – I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” Jobs was forced to resign from Apple in 1985, the business he co-founded with Steve Wozniak, before returning in 1997 and transforming the way we consume information.
Failures play a pivotal role in helping employees to grow and companies succeed. Throughout our childhood and adolescence, we were encouraged to experiment, to make mistakes that ultimately helped us to learn and develop.
But once we join the workforce, failure on the job is generally unaccepted. It could even cost us our jobs. Thus, we end up with team members who may be too shy to experiment, or innovate. Because of untapped employees’ potential, businesses can face obstacles that affect their bottom line if they don't encourage failure and experimentation.
A few years ago, I worked with a creative intern. She had implemented a number of creative projects during her studies, and we believed that she could contribute greatly to our team. During her training, however, she was reluctant to come forward with new ideas.
After chatting with her about her lack of engagement, she told me how she would like to experiment with new concepts but was afraid of failing and jeopardising her internship. I knew then that I needed to encourage failure – and lead by example.
My intern wasn’t a unique case. In fact, a number of my acquaintances told me how they would rather do as they are instructed and not engage in a project or an idea that may fail and upset their managers, especially that their managers don’t necessarily embrace a company culture where failure is accepted.
But this is where failure can be fruitful. My mentor planned a weekly meeting with his managers and senior employees, where they would put potential ideas on the table and test them. Failure is expected, and potential ideas would be refined until they were good enough.
What happened? Employees became more open about sharing new ideas, thus inspiring the launch of pioneer products and services. They were happier and quickly fixed their mistakes instead of covering them up.
A few changes to your company's culture can encourage your employees to bring their ideas forward to help spark creativity
What good comes out of failure? The answer is in the science.
In a 2018 working paper, titled Mitigating Malicious Envy: Why Successful Individuals Should Reveal Their Failures, co-author and Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Alison Wood Brooks, discusses how talking about failure can bring team members closer as it humanises them.
It also generally increases "benign envy", which can motivate team members to perform better. Another study, published in Scientific American, found how making mistakes helps the brain mature and, in essence, makes people smarter.
So how can organisations embrace a culture where mistakes are encouraged? A few changes to your company’s culture can encourage your employees to bring their ideas forward to help spark creativity.
As in the case of my mentor, team members take cues from their management. Leaders should talk about their failures as much as their success. In other words, failure should be normalised and experimentation encouraged.
The former chairman of India’s Tata Group, Ratan Tata, believes in failure in the workplace. Before his retirement in 2012, Mr Tata organised a unique competition: A prize for the best failed idea in an effort to emphasise the importance of the company to embrace risk.
Management should encourage their teams to fail fast. This means asking team members for feedback on an idea at its initial stage, instead of spending more time and resources on it. That way they can move to the next idea fast.
Management should also foster an open-door policy and transparent culture, where ideas and experimenting are celebrated. It could be as simple as providing the room for employees to experiment, just as in the case of my mentor.
What I’ve learned throughout my business journey is that people are a business’s greatest wealth. The combination of knowledge, creativity, ideas and perspectives can help a business soar to untapped horizons, even more if a company’s culture encourages failure and experimentation.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 715bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh1,289,376
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The biog
Age: 19
Profession: medical student at UAE university
Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)
Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe
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On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
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Range: Up to 610km
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
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5. Zakat
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Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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