Some would argue that failure is inherent to the natural order of things. Some would say otherwise. They would argue that it’s merely a human construct. A label. A value judgement.

Fair enough. Each of us then, of course, is free to define failure as we wish. A prior guest of the podcast argued, for example, that in business it’s only a failure if you didn’t learn from it. In sports, Babe Ruth is said to have viewed each strike as bringing him one closer to the next home run. There’s an underlying notion in both of these views that something went wrong, but that it’s possible to withhold judgement on it as a failure until later, if at all.

If failure is a matter of definition, why not just change it? Though in an entirely different realm, this calls to mind a presidential administration that redefined ketchup as a vegetable to give school administrators more flexibility in meeting both budgets and nutritional standards.

Join the team from Failure - the Podcast in a hearty (ha, ha … pun intended! ... read on) discussion with physician, entrepreneur, humorist and philosopher Andy Epstein and learn about failure in the health care system. Is it just a matter of definition? You decide.