# How to FAIL the RIGHT way - Business English lesson on INTELLIGENT FAILURE

An episode of [Breakout Business English - Improve your vocabulary and confidence using English at work.](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1616739393), 31 Jul 2025, 24 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2022761/episodes/17591565-how-to-fail-the-right-way-business-english-lesson-on-intelligent-failure.mp3

Send us Fan Mail Today we're talking about how to fail at work the right way. We listen to some native and natural sounding words, vocabulary, and phrases to talk about failure, and the four elements that make a failure intelligent. So, if you speak English at work as a second language and you'd like to fail in a more intelligent way, then this episode is for you. 🔗 Book a one-to-one session with Chris at breakoutbusinessenglish.com 🎁 Use code PODCAST30 for 30% off your first coaching session Do you want me to analyse your English on YouTube? Contact me here: https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com/contact Do you want to see what I do? Click here: https://youtu.be/1jpP2nCQDi0?si=DCKHKxe9dqhidx0o Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful. This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast. Don’t forget that my full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. So, if you need English to do your job but don’t speak it natively then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and request future topics! 📅 New episodes released every Wednesday 📺 Watch vocabulary breakdowns and coaching analysis on the Breakout Business English YouTube channel Today's examples: - We really are at the bleeding edge of the industry here. - These are novel ideas and we really are in uncharted territory. - We’re breaking new ground with this work and there’s no blueprint for how to go about this. - We’re definitely heading in the right direction but setbacks are to be expected. - It’s important that we articulate a concrete goal for the project before we start allocating resources. - I think we all have a vested interest in figuring this out. Support the show Book a coaching session with me at: https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com

## Transcript

Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work in English. Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I am a Business English Coach. I've personally worked with over 1,000 international professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them to improve their English and communication skills. Thank you so much for listening today and for your time, and today's topic? Is how to fail. Intelligently. How to fail intelligently. In last week's podcast, we talked about dealing with failure. How to take responsibility when things go wrong, and how to talk about the possibility of failure. This week. We're going to continue with the theme of failure, but we're going to approach it from a different angle. And look at it in a more positive way. Amy Edmondson is currently a Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. In 2023, she published a book entitled The Right Kind of Wrong. In it, she details how we should aim to embrace failure and fail more often at work. However, The specific type of failure that we should aim for is what she calls intelligent failure. Intelligent failure has four parts to it. First, it should explore new territory. And new ideas. The second point is that it should be in pursuit of a goal. Thirdly, It should be based on a hypothesis, an idea that you have. It should test this theory. And finally, the failure should be kept as small as possible. If you can check all four of these boxes and satisfy all of these requirements, then you've got yourself an intelligent failure. We're going to break this down into two episodes starting this week, exploring those first two ideas today and the second two next week. With that said... Let's listen now to some examples of professionals talking about our first point and that is exploring new territory. We really are at the bleeding edge of the industry here. We really are at the bleeding edge of the industry here. These are

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