The Role of Failure in Innovation

Lessons from a Workshop with The Failure Toy

Jared Teicher, Senior Marketing Manager at the Bank of Montreal (BMO), shares why he and his leadership team brought Twenty One Toys’ Failure Toy into their strategy and enablement/marketing team’s workshop. Tasked with fostering BMO’s “winning culture” across dispersed regions, their goal for the day was clear: celebrate, acknowledge, empower, and connect their team to their new strategy and to each other.

Why Failure? As Jared explains:

“Failure wasn’t looked at as a bad thing; it was seen as a necessary step for us to succeed as a team.”

“If you shy away from failure, you shy away from experience and the opportunity to deliver a better end product.”

Once the Games Began… “We’re here to have fun, but we’re also here to learn.”

“It was the best way I could think of to kick off our full-day offsite. With so much content coming at the teams, getting them out of their seats and playing with toys was an amazing way to set the tone for the day.”

Powerful Team Insights. Each marketing team walked away with unique takeaways:

“Hearing what they had experienced in their own different teams was really powerful too.”

This workshop proved that failure isn’t just a challenge; it’s a crucial ingredient for innovation, growth, and stronger team connections.