Failing Intelligently

1. Failing Intelligently
Bernard Buttone
Triangle Pest Control

2. About me….
● I have 3 wonderful kids and a
beautiful better half
● I love college basketball
● My favorite animal is a cheetah
● Been at Triangle Pest Control for 7
LOOONNNGGG years

3. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try
again”
- William Hickson

4. “Doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results”
- The definition of insanity

5. How to fail the
right way...
● Remember that failing is a mind set (kind of)
○ First attempt in learning
○ Failure adds context to your principles
● Play to win, don’t play not to lose
○ Don’t be the Falcons!

6. Process of failing
intelligently
Some ways to proceduralize failing
What we do to
incorporate failure
How Triangle fails
Where to go from here
A few things to start on your road to
failing intelligently

7. The Process of failing

8. Research
Take a look at other companies/people that have
done what you are looking to do, try to learn from
their successes and failures
● Measure twice, cut once
● Make sure you can manage the risk
● Be willing to take the risk
● Do not fail alone, use the people you trust as a
sounding board

9. Trust the numbers!!
(If you don’t measure them already, find
a way to do it)

10. Fire Bullets, then cannonballs
Jim Collins, Great By Choice
Fire Bullets

11. Fire Bullets, then cannonballs
Jim Collins, Great By Choice
Did you hit the intended target?Fire Bullets

12. Fire Bullets, then cannonballs
Jim Collins, Great By Choice
Did you hit the intended target?Fire Bullets Concentrate resources and
spark the cannon!

13. Fail Quickly!!
The faster you fail, the faster you learn!!

14. How do you incorporate failure into
your company?

15. Teach that failure is okay
from the start
- In our interviews we talk about idea implementation and how
important it is
- We stress that we will train as best we can, but you have to make game
time decisions
- Do not punish a mistake if the person had the company and customers
best interest at heart, it is a teachable moment

16. Teach that failure is okay
on a management level
- We are all encouraged to try new things
- Live by the phrase “If you are not messing up, you are not
doing anything”
- Screw ups are inevitable, so when they happen…..

17. Failure is part of growing
Post Mortem - have open meetings
to discuss everything from the good,
to the bad and the ugly

18. Failure is for nothing if
nothing is learned
ACT!! - Change what needs to be
changed Procedures, checklists,
people, equipment etc.

19. What to do from
here??
● FInd a way to objectively measure
● Read Good to Great
● Look at the failures you have made in the
last year
○ Have a post mortem
○ Change something! Don’t just talk
about it
● Find a way to let all of your people know it is
okay to fail

20. Questions?