Australia flag falling stars   Happy Australia Day!  I have an
been exploring national cultural differences in attitudes to
risk (and by implication failure). Today is an apropos time to
add another country…Australia. My source is a piece by Jessica
Gardiner in the Australian Financial Review titled “Accepting
failure on path to success    • “Failure was not encouraged in
Australia, as it was in Silicon Valley, he said. ‘A lot of it
comes from the sense that ‘Life in Australia is pretty good so
why be ambitious? Why try and take the risk of possibly
failing?’”  A bit more research gleaned some further insights
come from my professional alma mater, Microsoft and a BizSpark
event highlighted in the Technology Spectator’s piece ‘Why tech
start-ups don’t fear failure’.    • “Having learnt a lot from
past failures can be a big advantage later in life, according to
start-up investor and adviser Alan Jones, who has been involved
in the sector since 1995. Jones says that he often introduces
himself to clients as thei