We’re not about celebrating failure; we’re about making it productive.
Fail Smarter help leaders and teams transform setbacks into better solutions and build the psychologically-safe culture needed to make that happen.
About Fail Smarter
In today’s fast-moving, hyper-competitive world, leaders and teams are expected to consistently perform at their best and to continually innovate—yet few are taught how to productively navigate failure along the way.
Fail Smarter exists to change that. We help leaders and teams reframe their relationship with failure, transforming it from something to avoid into a powerful catalyst for learning, growth, and better outcomes.
By building psychologically-safe environments where people can speak up, experiment, and take smart risks, we help unlock the innovation and performance already waiting within your team. At our core is a simple belief: the most effective teams don’t avoid failure—they learn from it faster and more effectively than everyone else.
Through interactive workshops, team interventions, and our signature four-stage Fail Smarter Framework, we equip leaders and teams with the mindset and tools to transform failure into forward momentum—because failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s the pathway to it.
Competitors don’t outpace you because they’re smarter.
They outpace you because they know how to harness failure to propel their success, and they’re building a culture where their teams aren’t afraid to think out loud.
What Sets Fail Smarter Apart...
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Fail Smarter delivers a Performance Learning System, not a pep talk.
Rather than motivational talks about failure that rev you up in the moment, we provide a performance system – a structured, repeatable methodology – that turns failure into faster learning and better outcomes.
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We don’t treat psychological safety as an abstract concept—we measure it.
Psychological safety isn’t a buzzword—it’s a business metric. Using an in-depth discovery process, inclusive of The Fearless Organization Scan, we help leaders diagnose where trust breaks down and where to focus to improve team performance.
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The Fail Smarter Framework <br> goes beyond mindset.
Our framework uses design thinking tools, rapid prototyping, and experimentation, ideal for innovation-minded organizations. While many failure-focused consultants stop at the mindset shift, Fail Smarter takes teams through a complete process.
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Experiential Learning <br> that Sticks.
No one wants to spend another hour in PowerPoint purgatory. Fail Smarter uses hands‑on tools—like the award‑winning Failure Toy—to help teams reframe and learn from failure through play, experimentation, and real‑world application.
Meet Rachel Franco
FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL OF FAIL SMARTER, LLC
During my many years of working for Fortune 500 companies across the healthcare, software/technology, and financial services industries, I worked on many exciting initiatives and experienced a variety of different company and team cultures.
My most impactful experience, however, was the five years I recently spent working at the intersection of learning and innovation at a Fortune 50 healthcare company, helping leaders and teams build the capabilities, skills and mindset needed to innovate. I designed and delivered highly engaging workshops, coached leaders and teams, and facilitated sessions related to innovation and learning from failure that consistently earned top satisfaction scores.
But I kept running into the same wall. Teams would leave my sessions energized and equipped with new skills, but when the opportunity arose to take a swing or admit something wasn't working, teams went silent. Leadership cast blame. The fear of failure was still running the show.
That's when I shifted my focus to what really matters—helping leaders and teams build the psychological safety and systems that allow them to fail productively, learn systematically, and convert setbacks into better solutions.
That’s why I launched Fail Smarter. Because you can teach innovation capabilities and skills all day long, but if your people are too scared to fail, they're likely too scared to try.
Some of My Credentials
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Leadership & Performance Coaching Certification Program
69 hours of coaching training through ACT Leadership / Brown University.
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The Fearless Organization Scan
Trained in facilitating The Fearless Organization Scan, a research-backed assessment for measuring psychological safety in teams (Certification in progress).
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Foundational Design Thinking Certification
This badge recognizes individuals who apply design thinking to create user-centered ideas and rapid prototypes that address real-world challenges.
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Northwestern University
MS, Learning & Organizational Change
Capstone Focus: Conducted 9-month study interviewing senior leaders to identify and assess barriers to learning from failure and persisting with innovation.
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Vanderbilt University
MBA, Owen Graduate School of Management
Graduate training that shaped our work helping leaders and teams translate experience into insight and improvement.
★★★★★
“Rachel has the fortitude, patience, and interpersonal skills to navigate her way through the challenges of working with individuals ranging from C-level executives to administrative-level individuals. As well, she is highly adaptable -- a valuable trait when working with individuals from a variety of cultures throughout the world.”
– Harriette Watford Lowenthal, Managing Director of Coaching Services & Executive Coach at ExecuNet