Most of us have experienced the painful death of what we once considered a good idea. If you are anything like me, when that "good idea" goes bad, you MUST attempt to figure out "what went wrong?"--Was there a flaw (or many) in the execution? Were the wrong people put in the wrong leadership positions? Was the idea great, but the timing horrible?
(SIDE NOTE: The problem with failure is that most of us do not experience it enough...which means that we probably aren't really stretching ourselves or attempting anything new. To live an "experimental life" will result in a few busted plays, but that rich experience is also the fabric of an adventurous life. Playing it safe will definitely result in fewer failures on the surface, but who really wants to live a boring, safe, predictable life?)
I think it's great to look back over past failures for the sake of learning, but don't spend too much time there. Over-analysis of past failure is both daunting and haunting. Visit, but don't linger. Learn, but don't stay. Get the bullet points of a past failure that you never want to repeat and move on--and remember, nothing stinks worse than a rotting corpse.
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