There is an interesting video clip now showing on CNN.com. The clip is from Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Conference and features Ariana Huffington and Marissa Mayer of Google discussing an intriguing business practive of the king of all search engines.

The big G’s policy is to always build in a failure rate of 60-70% for all new product launches. Mayer explains that in a fluid business like the internet game, historically at least 2 of every 5 new ventures fail. She says that by incorporating a high failure rate into the planning of each new offering, Google is better able to move quickly in the event of either the success or failure.

Many business experts and coaches often preach the value of positive thinking or believing your way to success.

Do you think planning ahead for failure is a key to overall success or a surefire path to doom?

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