Lessons in Failing Well: Catherine Hasted

'From I to We: Lessons in Failing Well'

Behind most stories of impact sit failures that are rarely discussed. In this session, Catherine Hasted reflects on failures from her own career and from the people and organisations she has worked with, examining how progress actually happens when problems cannot be solved by individuals alone. The focus is on what emerges through collaboration, not heroics, and what becomes possible when we shift from working as an I to acting as a We. Students and researchers will learn how others have used failure as a collaborative tool rather than a solitary setback.

Registration for this event is encouraged. Click here to register.

Biography

Dr Catherine Hasted is Deputy Director of the Skoll Centre at Saïd Business School, Oxford University. With a background in innovating large-scale change, she founded ThinkLab at the University of Cambridge and later led the University’s global business partnerships. Catherine is known for her research and practice on inter-organisational change, including the development of Relational Fusion as a framework for large-scale collaboration. She completed her studies at Lancaster, Oxford and Cambridge universities, and her work has featured in the BBC, The Guardian and The Times.

The 'Failing Well' series at St John's

Dr Hasted's lecture is part of a series of talks on ‘Failing Well’, organised by St John's Fellow for Research, Dr Severine Toussaert. As outlined in a recent Nature article, Dr Toussaert is interested in making the trial-and-error aspects of research more transparent. The ‘Failing Well’ series aims to paint an honest picture of the research process and to equip students and academics with practical strategies for troubleshooting and building resilience. By giving ‘failure’ centre stage, the series will reframe setbacks as inevitable, and, indeed, essential, aspects of the research process.