Anything which occurs that did not turn out as planned (or desired) is a failure. This implies that a description of success is necessary in order to recognize failure. The implications of these 2 statements are:
1) Failure is everywhere. This means that there are endless opportunities for improvement.
2) In describing success, quantifying the description makes judging the outcome so easy. Qualifying success often leaves failure unrecognized and therefore, likely to be repeated.
Most people identify the effects of the failure, instead of the failure itself. This distinction is one of the most important (and difficult) related to this topic. The post on the BP Oil Spill provides a good example of the distinction.
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