Amy Edmondson’s Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive, about ‘intelligent failure’ and how to take more sensible risks, has won the 2023 Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award.

The £30,000 prize is awarded to the book that is judged to have provided the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, with £10,000 awarded to each runner-up.

It was awarded to Edmondson at a ceremony at Claridge’s in London, hosted by the editor of the Financial Times and chair of the panel of judges, Roula Khalaf, Schroders Group chief executive Peter Harrison and Nikkei Inc managing director Daisuke Arakawa.

Khalaf said: “Amy Edmondson lays out a powerful framework for how to learn from failure and deal with risk. Right Kind of Wrong is a highly readable and relevant book, with important lessons for leaders and managers everywhere.”

Harrison added: "Failure often lies behind progress but is ‘failing fast’ really a good thing or simply a cliché? Amy Edmondson’s Right Kind of Wrong provides clarity and practical prescription to address the issues businesses face every day. It is invaluable reading.”

Edmondson beat a shortlist comprising:

Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway

The Coming Wave: AI, Power and the Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma by Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar

How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project from Home Renovations to Space Exploration by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara 

To find out more about the award visit: https://www.ft.com/bookaward

@FT

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