Since offering his resignation to President Obama for making some off-the-cuff remarks to Rolling Stone magazine in 2010, Retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal has taken his leadership experience into the public sector. He recommends that business leaders own their mistakes – just as he says he accepts full responsibility for his career-ending gaff. In this lesson, McChrystal lays out a plan for handling failure productively, an approach that can be applied to personal as well as organizational mistakes.Consequences of Punishing FailureThe organization will become overly cautious.Failures will be covered up.After-Action ReviewWhat happened that led to this outcome?Determine the proximate causes of failure.Communication PlanDetermine the best way to inform the entire organization of the failure.Always report on a recent success before a failure briefing.