AFGO: Another Fabulous* Growth Opportunity

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Things go wrong.

Not occasionally, not rarely—regularly. Anyone who's worked in superannuation or funds management for more than five minutes knows that, despite best intentions, processes fail, member expectations aren’t met, the regulator isn’t impressed, or a promising initiative loses momentum.

And when that happens, the most common response is blame. Who signed off on that version? Who missed the deadline? Who briefed legal like that?

It’s natural. It's also unhelpful.

If we want to lead well—and build resilient, member-first, future-focused funds—we need to take a different approach. Less finger-pointing, more sense-making.

We need to treat every misstep as an AFGO: another fabulous growth opportunity.

So what does that look like in practice?

1. Pause the reaction cycle

There’s often a flurry of activity post-failure. Fix the issue. Smooth it over. Move on.
But growth doesn’t come from patching. It comes from pausing. Taking a breath. Asking: What actually just happened? Not just the incident—but the lead-up. The context. The blind spots.

2. Get forensic—but not personal

Instead of asking “Who messed this up?”, ask:

  • What assumptions were in play?

  • Were the right people in the room?

  • Did we shortcut a process in the name of speed or harmony?

  • What’s the pattern here—not just the symptoms

This is particularly relevant in product governance, disclosure development, and trustee decision-making—areas where group dynamics, regulatory complexity, and commercial pressure intersect.

3. Make the learning count

Insights are only valuable if they drive change. So turn the analysis into action:

  • Build in better cross-functional review points

  • Set up clearer accountabilities

  • Recalibrate timelines or team structures

  • Communicate lessons learned—up, down and across

You don’t have to hang your dirty laundry on the front gate. But if you never talk about what went wrong, you lose the chance to build organisational memory—and resilience.

Leading through AFGO moments

The best leaders I’ve worked with don’t try to avoid all mistakes. (They know that’s impossible.) They create space to learn from them—and make it safe for others to do the same.

They use AFGO moments not to tighten control, but to sharpen practice. And over time, they end up with better systems, better products, and a better team.

That’s where the “fabulous” bit comes in. Not that it happened—but that you used it.

So next time things go pear-shaped, skip the blame spiral. Zoom out. Ask better questions. Then design a better next time.

That’s how we get better. That’s how members win. And that’s what leadership in this industry demands.

*And yes, it’s not always ‘fabulous’ when something goes wrong. There’s another F that gets used a lot. But if you at least learn from it and figure out what to do differently next time, then it won’t be quite so f’ing painful in the long run.