Charles E. Johnson

Charles Johnson is a practitioner's practitioner, part builder, part coach, and always a student of what works in the real world. Over more than three decades, he has led through cycles of growth and contraction, navigated new ventures and complex organizations, and learned firsthand how the same principles that steady a business can also steady a life. Colleagues know him for translating big ideas into everyday practices and for a mentor's voice that is direct, compassionate, and anchored in results.

This book grew out of that long arc of experience. After thirty years of wins, wipeouts, and rebuilds, professionally and personally, Charles saw the same pattern repeat: setbacks are tuition, if you know how to extract the lesson quickly and move forward with integrity. Intelligent Failure distills the frameworks he has tested under pressure: how to debrief without blame, design safe-to-fail experiments, protect what must not break, and align work with values so progress is sustainable at home and at the office. He wrote it for rising leaders and seasoned operators who are tired of perfection theater and ready for a playbook that turns inevitable missteps into momentum. In Charles's hands, failure becomes a disciplined practice, one that helps readers learn, heal, and grow into the kind of people others trust when the stakes are high.