The Shortlist

Welcome to The Shortlist! We are exploring all things AEC marketing and answering listener questions to provide best practices and fresh ideas for marketing strategies to help your firm win the shortlist. New episodes drop each Wednesday. Listen as the team from Middle of Six shares their thoughts on proposals, interviews, websites, social media, marketing planning, business development, and countless other tactics that architecture, engineering, and construction firms rely on to grow their businesses and build strong brands.

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The Shortlist

Failing Forward: Analyzing Losses to Grow from Them

April 01, 2026 • Middle of Six • Season 5 • Episode 86

0:00 | 38:36

Losing a pursuit is never fun but it can be one of the most valuable opportunities for growth. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons is joined by Melissa Richey and Katy Byers to talk about what it really means to “fail forward” and how to turn losses into smarter strategy.

From running more effective debriefs and asking sharper questions to digging into scoring feedback and gut-checking your go/no-go decisions, the team shares practical ways to understand what happened and how to improve next time.

And because losing streaks are part of the process, the conversation also leans into the human side: keeping team morale high, celebrating wins (big or small), and recognizing when a new approach or perspective might be exactly what your team needs.

CPSM CEU Credits: 0.5 | Domain: 4