One of the least discussed components of success is failure and the crucial role it plays in turning loss into achievement.

Flearning – failing + learning – may not exactly be the new black, but it’s definitely in fashion. So what’s the value in organisations sharing the details of when things go wrong, and how do you fail smart, not dumb?

When Ben Rennie’s multimillion dollar clothing business failed in 2004, he didn’t speak about it with anyone for two and a half years, not even close family and friends. “I no longer had something cool and interesting that people wanted. I thought, if I don’t have that, what do I have?” says Rennie.

Fast forward to 2012 and Rennie is organising and taking the stage at Australia’s first “FailCon” in Sydney. To an audience of 300, he shares how he woke up one morning to an email telling him his company had lost its distribution rights, sending his business from an A$5 million to an A$1.2 million per annum venture overnight. FailCons, where conference speakers share their business stuff-ups and what they learned from them, are enjoying international popularity. “Since we went global in 2012, we’ve produced more than 25 events in more than 15 cities around the world,” says Cass Phillips, FailCon’s San Francisco-based founder.

So why all the fuss about failure?

“When the global financial crisis hit it forced people to be more entrepreneurial, to create jobs for themselves,” says Rennie, now managing director and co-founder of 6.2, a digital strategy and design firm. “That involves much more risk than being an employee, so you need to embrace the idea it might not work.” In addition, while innovation is celebrated, any creative process involves risk-taking and failure. And “failure” is still an uncomfortable proposition in many workplaces. But rebranding failure with a positive spin can help.

The term “flearning” (failing + learning) aims at just such a rebranding. The term was coined after the 2012 FailCon, in a brainstorming session led by Mick Liubinskas, co-founder of business incubator Pollenizer. Now it’s a Twitter hash tag and web domain name, and even a syllabus title in some entrepreneur training courses, and you’ll find Liubinskas’s “proud #flearns” publicly listed on his LinkedIn profile.

While a positive reframe is important, it will take more than clever catchphrases before the average senior manager – with objectives to deliver on – feels comfortable allowing his people to fail. “People know that you have to let people fail to increase innovation, but there’s a knowing-doing gap,” says Doug Sundheim, a New York-based executive coach and author of Taking Smart Risks (McGraw-Hill).

Alex Malley, chief executive of CPA Australia, doesn’t shy away from giving people permission to fail. In the process of trying to achieve great things some things may go wrong, says Malley, who actively recruits people who can be open about their mistakes. “If someone claims to be mistake free, I’d rather they work for someone else,” he writes in his recently released book The Naked CEO (Wiley).

Alex Malley will be the opening keynote address at AuSAE Conference and Exhibition. Early bird pricing for this two day event ends on March 31. To see the full program please click here.

This article first appeared on INTHEBLACK.