source:
Why this social change agent wants you to ‘fail better’ | MIT Sloan

Why this social change agent wants you to ‘fail better’

by Kara Baskin

Aug 17, 2021

Why It Matters

Kara Penn learns from “smart mistakes” as she works bringing community development, management, and systems thinking to bear on social issues.Share

“Improved failure” might sound like an oxymoron. Not for Kara Penn, who explains how bold managers can exploit, design, and use failure as an asset in “Fail Better: Design Smart Mistakes and Succeed Sooner,” which she co-wrote with MIT Sloan senior lecturerAnjali Sastry.Work smart with our Thinking Forward newsletterInsights from MIT experts, delivered every Tuesday morning.Email Address

As founder and principal consultant at Denver-based Mission Spark, Penn harnesses ideas from community development, management, and systems thinking to improve the social sector — a nod to her previous positions as a counselor at a juvenile detention facility, business advisor to low-income Southeast Asian artists, and nonprofit consultant.

We talked with Penn, MBA ’07, about the power of collaboration, the role of reflection in generating ideas, and why we all need to be systems-thinkers.