Failure Report 2011

The 2011 Failure Report, which features self-reflections on breakdowns in communication, leadership, and transparency, shows the perceptual gains that only occur when an organization pays attention to the very things we often avoid on the road to success. We make discoveries, breakthroughs and inventions in part because we are free enough to acknowledge when we have fallen short of our stated goals. As an outgrowth of humility, transparency, and self-criticality at the heart of EWB, the organization launched an interactive web portal, AdmittingFailure.com, to broaden the conversations that began with the 2008 Failure Report across the field between NGOs, donors and related governments. It has served as a reminder to courageous funders that 100% success means something is wrong. As one put it to me, “it means that we’re either choosing very simple issues, or we’re lying about our results.”