By Amina AlTai, Executive coach and leadership trainer
In entrepreneurship and leadership, we celebrate the idea of “failing fast and often.” It’s a mantra repeated in boardrooms, accelerator programs and leadership seminars. The logic is simple: the faster you fail, the quicker you learn, iterate and succeed.
But here’s the catch—not everyone is given the same permission to fail.
THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF FAILURE
For women—especially women of color, LGBTQIA+ women and disabled women—the stakes of failure are exponentially higher. The very same systems that encourage risk-taking in business and leadership often penalize women when they stumble. For example, a study from The Journal of Personality and Psychology found that “people respond more negatively to ethical failures when an organization has a female versus a male leader.” In medicine in particular, female doctors see a significant drop in referrals after a mistake, whereas men see no long-term impact. Women and minorities are often punished more harshly for the same mistakes as their peers in what is now dubbed “the punishment gap.” And suppose we don’t address this imbalance. In that case, we’ll continue to reinforce a culture where women are expected to be perfect while men are allowed to experiment.
THE GLASS CLIFF EFFECT
This pattern is seen in entrepreneurship and leadership roles alike. Women in executive positions are more likely to be placed in precarious “glass cliff” situations, where they are set up to lead during times of crisis with little room for error. The glass cliff refers to a phenomenon where women, BIPOC individuals and members of marginalized groups are elevated to leadership roles during times of crisis or instability—such as economic downturns or social movements like #MeToo—when the risk of failure is unusually high. As a result, these under-recognized leaders are placed in precarious positions with fewer resources and support, making it more likely that they will struggle or be blamed when things go wrong, ultimately leading to their downfall.
PERFECTIONISM vs. EXPERIMENTATION
Because of these systemic biases, women are conditioned to believe they must be perfect before taking a leap. A great example of this is that women tend to apply for jobs only when they meet nearly 100% of the qualifications, while men apply when they meet just 60%. This is not because women lack confidence but because they’ve been socialized to know they won’t be afforded the same benefit of the doubt. Our mindsets of imposter syndrome and feelings of not-enoughness are reinforced systemically.
This perfectionism is at odds with the very foundation of entrepreneurship and leadership, which thrives on experimentation, iteration and—yes—failure. When women aren’t given room to take risks and learn from missteps, it limits their individual growth and the innovation and diversity of thought in leadership and business.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?
- Normalize Risk-Taking for Women Leaders
- Organizations should actively create environments where women can experiment, pivot and iterate without fearing career-ending consequences. This requires organizations to invest in unconscious bias training and to create environments of psychological safety.
- Shift the Narrative Around Women’s Failures
- Media and business communities need to celebrate women’s resilience and problem-solving after missing the mark, just as they do for men. We need to encourage a growth mindset over biased judgements.
- Support Mindset Shifts
- At the individual level, we need to challenge the mindsets that reinforce some of these systemic barriers. If you’re feeling imposter syndrome or a fear of failure, we need to examine the stories we’re telling ourselves and work to reframe them.
- Nurture Resilience and Well-Being
Supporting women leaders by fostering resilience through mindfulness, stress management, nervous system work and self-care practices is essential for sustainable performance and overall well-being. We can stay stuck if our nervous systems don’t feel supported to try new things.
A NEW DEFINITION OF SUCCESS
If we want a world where women thrive in leadership and entrepreneurship, we need to rewrite the rules around failure. True equity means giving women the same room to fail fast, fail often, and—most importantly—rise again stronger than before.
The future of great leadership depends on it.
All photos courtesy of Amina AlTai
