Reflections LEAD: Richard Curtis

The interview with Richard Curtis was a mix of humor and stark reality as I reflect upon it. The reality of what Curtis has been able to do because he has joined in the battle to fight poverty is amazing. It also gives some new approaches of ways to invite people to become involved that I had never thought of before. I know that concept of the Red Nose Day will stay with me for some time.
Now for some reflections on one of the notes that I took during the interview with Curtis.
One of the quotes from Curtis was: "When things go wrong you can't panic to early because what seems to be failure, might actually turn out to be the key of what will be successful." This statement while pithy is completely counter intuitive and goes against everything that is ingrained within leaders. For me the role of leadership is to make sure that the right things happen at the right time. When something isn't going right a leader is supposed to fix it or get it stopped. So what would it mean to not panic in the midst of failure? Even more significantly for me is the question, When should you allow failure to become the seed bed for success?
We have all heard how many times Edison learned what didn't work in making a light bulb before he (and his lab crew) found the right combination. You might have heard a leader say, "We've never had a failure, we just know a lot of things that don't work now."
So are there some snippits of possible wisdom that might come from this thought process?
How about some of the following:

• If it isn't happening just the way it was planned it doesn't mean that you should start over right away
• Make sure that you step back and analize (with others) the things that have gone wrong (as well as what happened that was right) to see what might actually have gone right [Remember the story of Post-it Notes]
• Time is your friend, allow it to be
• Always ask what are we learning in the midst of this

Any other thoughts that you might add?