Research Updates

What if the secret to success lies in learning from mistakes?

A fascinating dichotomy comes to light in a study we conducted at SDA Bocconi’s Commercial Excellence Lab (CEL), in collaboration with ManagerItalia, regarding how sales managers perceive the factors driving their success versus the causes of their failures. Our research suggests that while individuals often attribute the former to personal skills and effort, they tend to ascribe the latter to external factors and circumstances.

 

Our study highlights that when asked about the keys to their success, managers frequently cite stable personal qualities, almost as though it all depends on possessing specific individual traits. Their answers are rich in nouns, emphasizing skills, attitudes, knowledge, and character traits (curiosity, perseverance, etc.). In contrast, when reflecting on their mistakes and lessons learned, managers focus more on external actions and factors, as well as company processes. Here, their language is marked by verbs, accentuating what they, their colleagues, or their organizations did or failed to do.

The questions

We explored managers’ perceptions of the key factors behind their professional success and the errors that have taught them the most. Building on a 2015 survey, we sought to identify the main drivers of success according to sales managers and the biggest mistakes they encountered, particularly in terms of lessons learned.

Fieldwork

In our research, we used a mixed approach, combining software-based textual analysis with human interpretation, to analyze the responses to two open-ended questions from 503 managers (roughly evenly split among sales managers, CEOs, and managers from other functions):

 

  1. "Reflecting on your work experience, what’s the secret to your success, past and/or present? Summarize in a paragraph of up to 100 words or five lines."

  2. "What is the mistake (one that you made or that you saw others make) from which you’ve learned the most? Summarize in a paragraph of up to 100 words or five lines."

 

Our analysis revealed several intriguing insights:

 

  • Internal vs. external attribution: Success narratives emphasize personal qualities and skills (e.g., "leadership, listening skills, delegation"), whereas mistakes are contingent on external factors and processes, such as other people’s leadership errors, the company culture, decision-making or communication problems.
  • Focus on actions vs. personal traits: Success stories center on stable personal traits like “patience, experience, tenacity,” suggesting that success comes from “being a certain way.” Mistakes, however, focus on actions and decisions, implying that learning comes from adjusting how things are done and leveraging existing traits effectively.
  • A systematic approach, discipline, and resilience as success factors: Managers perceive success as not only stemming from personal qualities but also from the discipline to apply them with consistency and perseverance.
  • Excess as a key to failure: Failure is often associated with words like “too much” or “always,” pointing to ineffective behavioral patterns or excessive confidence, and persistently pursuing unproductive directions. Paradoxically, even positive traits (e.g., confidence) can become liabilities when overused.
  • The disappearance of passion: Unlike in 2015, when “passion” was one of the most frequently mentioned words in success narratives, it nearly disappeared in 2024. This shift suggests a growing emphasis on efficiency and a pragmatic view prioritizing productivity over emotional engagement.

Looking forward

Beyond the frequency of specific terms, our study offers three key recommendations for managers:

 

  1. Foster adaptability: Training programs should emphasize adaptability, continuous learning, and openness to change.

  2. Cultivate humility: Leaders should promote a culture of humility, encouraging individuals to challenge themselves, to learn from both successes and failures, and to value insights from more experienced and younger colleagues alike.

  3. Promote data-driven decision-making: Encouraging managers to analyze successes and failures objectively (avoiding attributing outcomes solely to personal traits or external forces) can improve the organizational culture. While passion has faded, intuition is emerging as a way to reintroduce the human element into increasingly depersonalized workplaces. Managers, however, recognize the need to validate intuition with data and evidence.

 

One of the study's most critical insights revolves around how organizations handle mistakes. In collaborative environments open to dialogue, continuous learning becomes possible, with mistakes seen as an accepted—even encouraged—part of the process. In such settings, mistakes are not stigmatized or hidden but analyzed, understood, and shared. Conversely, in organizations where mistakes are penalized, companies risk repeating failures without ever learning from them.

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