Monday 16 June 2008

Failure - Crucial Factor in Success?

I recently asked a small audience of pretty powerful business types, one of whom had recently received over £1m of bonus while his employer had written off billions, if anyone had ever failed at anything. Not one hand went up. I prodded them asking surely they failed at something - still negative. So I volunteered and said, I fail at something almost daily - often simple things like failing a loved one by devoting just a little too much time to work, or avoiding a potential sale because I was reading the news on the internet. I had also failed at much bigger things. A previous business of mine had failed because I arrogantly assumed a number of things which transpired to be untrue. Failure hit me very hard because I had planned without failure and its consequences in mind.

With the help of a few colleagues at Ecademy.com, notably Rosemary Slosek, Laury Burr, Robert Zarywacz and Nick Bush with whom I debated the subject and by listening to the profound and stimulating recent address by JK Rowling to the Harvard Alumni, I believe recognising and embracing failure can help you succeed.

Understanding the Importance of Failure

So had my audience been denying they failed at things or were they honest they simply have never failed at anything? And why was the question important? I often ask would-be candidates for jobs if they have ever failed at anything and most lapse into interview-speak and say no. They have hit every sales target, achieved every challenge and went on every Chairman's Club etc. I usually avoid such people because they clearly do not understand what I'm asking and at best are fooling themselves if they do and at worst outright lying. The fact is failing at things is very common. The clear learning point is achieved by recognising the failure and modifying your approach or behaviour in order to avoid repeating the failure. I am very suspicious of those who say they have never failed in case they have and just deny it or worse still they don't know they fail at certain things and so will probably fail spectacularly when it all catches up with them.

And that's why failure is important. Many highly successful people like JK Rowling understood when they failed they needed to learn from it and applied themselves in a different way in order to be successful. In her Harvard address, Rowling says:

"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned."


This is a strong statement. Failure allowed Rowling to 'stop pretending that she was anything else other than what she was', and it helped 'strip away the inessential'. JK Rowling insists she failed cataclysmically but she does point out we all need to define what constitutes failure to us. And that's the essential learning point - understanding when you have failed, accepting you have done so and then making the conscious effort to change and modify your approach will help plot a path closer to success.

Further, failing has a powerful benefit. It makes you truly understand what success really is, help you be able to define it better and it will make it that much sweeter when you attain it.

Failing and Making Mistakes

My illustrious audience insisted that my minor failings in forgetting a birthday or coming home late from work are just minor errors or mistakes with no real consequence. My response was 'Not so'. I believe strongly that my personal foibles are symptomatic of a poor attention to detail on seemingly minor matters which fundamentally affect much more important things. My consideration that these matters are less important is a behaviour pattern that will ultimately bring a catastrophic failure if not dealt with. Should I continue to value work more important than my relationship with my wife there is no doubt it will have an impact on my marriage. This was the gist of my argument. My audience were quick in response that you can easily recover - a nice meal, a bunch of flowers or some perfume will soon rectify the situation.

At that point, I drew their attention to the fact that BA and BAA conspired to bring about the dreadful Terminal 5 saga at Heathrow. In the same quarter as CEO Willie Walsh being named an Executive of the Year by a newspaper and guiding BA to powerful profits, thousands of passengers languished at T5 as 'teething problems' failed to deal with their needs or their baggage. While it was fine to fire a couple of executives, issue platitudes and fob off the press, the failure was of an immense proportion. What is more, the whole plan to commission T5 was almost totally conceived with that level of failure built in because of the symptomatic laissez faire attitude of the executives involved. While the T5 fiasco was a big failure, when married with the high profits, many would argue that BA have weathered the storm and that it was just a blip in progress. My assertion is that if BA do not accept and embrace the failure it will ultimately permeate into everything they do. As long as the numbers are ok, failing the passengers is fine. If left unchecked, the problems could spill over not just onto profitability but, heaven forbid, on safety.

There is a thin line between failing and making mistakes. It may be a genuine error to forget an anniversary or important meeting but that is what planning tools are for. Failure is acceptable in the short term and considered a mistake. Forgetting more than once starts to indicate a trend in behaviour that is beyond a mistake. It is better, in the long run, to consider mistakes as failures and plan not to repeat them.

The Butterfly Effect

I wrote in an earlier blog article on single random events or Black Swans as Nassim Nicholas Taleb would describe them, destroying well ordered systems like the financial market. The interesting thing is that senior people like Stuart Green of HSBC have now come out and said that the business model which led to the credit crunch was fundamentally flawed and 'bankrupt'. Yet in nearly every answer to my blog and Linked In question, people have asserted that the warning signs were there, that the economy had built itself on high gearing and history showed that the model was flawed already. So what compelled the banking executives to pursue that strategy knowing that at some point or another, Black Swan event or not, the market would catastrophically fail causing losses which make Third World Debt look trivial? And even as they speak, the UK Prime Minister pumps £50bn into the asset backed security market to restart it knowing full well it was the finance system which failed us the first time around.

Comparatively small failures compound and start to magnify their potential outcome like the butterfly effect as in each cycle they are overlooked. In the competitive world of free market enterprise it would have taken a brave bank to have stepped back and not participated in the boom. But the self same bank would not be in the financial mess that the likes of Northern Rock, Bear Stearns at the extreme end and RBS, Citigroup, UBS, HSBC et al got themselves into.

Failing while Succeeding

I sometimes read with interest how highly successful people, who have all the visible signs of amazing success like money, image, and great careers are often those who court massive personal or business failure. It comes as no surprise that many a great relationship has been destroyed as a cost of success, both on a personal and business level. Again, I wrote a blog article about Denial and there is a link here. It is the successful person's ability to deny failure that allows them to concentrate on success. As an example, how could Willie Walsh feel successful after the T5 fiasco? Easy, his success is based on the numbers which were fine. By simply denying the failures at T5, he can continue to drive his profits. My assertion would be that if BA continue to ride rough-shod over its customers in such a way, ultimately the business will start to fail at the profit level. Perhaps more sadly, how many successful business people like possibly Roman Abramovich who owns Chelsea FC have had a failed marriage while at the pinnacle of their business success? Denying failure, may lead to short term success but long term it adds fuel to a potential catastrophic failure in the business.

Your own Failings Affect the Success of Others

The problem about not being able to recognise, deal with and learn from your own failures will ultimately start to affect the performance of others and potentially lead to failure for them. A good example of this is relationships. Little failings can build up over time and contribute to failure of the partnership. While it takes two to tango as they say, failing and recognising it is a personal thing. As Rowling points out, defining what is failure yourself is personal, but recognising and dealing with it may not be. From a business perspective, failure by an executive or staff member may ultimately lead to failure of another person or part of the business. An argument could be put that failures by say Nick Leeson brought down Barings Bank. It's why it is critical in business to be honest with yourself and recognise when you have failed and do something about it - because it will not only be yourself that's affected.

Recognising and Dealing with Failure in Others

The Nick Leeson example was wrong. Leeson was part of an organisation and industry that continually ignores failures. Self regulation in business is always a danger and in the financial industry where greed pervades more than anywhere, it's like the cat being asked to guard the cream. Leeson was guilty of deception no doubt but those around also failed to recognise the failings because their motivation to make money outweighed their ability to make judgement calls. How history repeats itself - in identical ways the derivative-led business of the banking industry has pretty much caused the current economic climate. Comparatively small failures combining and compounding to produce catastrophic failure and losses. The failure of managers and executives to intervene and recognise failures ultimately caused catastrophic failure.

The problem the financial industry has is that it has shown repeatedly that even when spectacular failure has been attained, they simply point a few fingers, mumble platitudes, make a few cuts, blame the customers for demanding too much service for too little spend and then plan the next frenzied boom. If Taleb has got one thing pretty close to right is that strip away the derivatives, mortgage books, loan syndications and such like and you might have a profitable business ongoing, all the rest just boosts the salaries of a swathe of upwardly mobile gamblers. The inability of the financial industry to recognise failure in itself and others and inaction against the power of greed will continually lead to boom-bust cycles and I believe at some point will lead to a financial disaster that would make the 1930's look like a holiday. No one knows for sure but the combined positions of the world wide derivative book is upward of $516 trillion according to a post on my blog by Eric Leibowitz. Just one butterfly not even a Black Swan and the whole lot could collapse like a house of cards. At every conjoin of the cards, failure stalks.

Back to The Real World

So when I ask if people have failed I am looking for people who recognise what failure is and I am looking for how they dealt with it and did things differently. I am not necessarily looking for whether they became super-successful because of it as people like JK Rowling are rare, although it's worth noting Steve Jobs dropped out of a Stanford degree course, Bill Gates was unsuccessful first time out, and Anthony Hopkins faced all the demons at his lowest ebb before rising to be the superstar he is today. The fact is we fail and recover at some level every day - failing big is not fun but it can become a profound positive force when it is dealt with the right way.

So when I asked earlier in my blog whether people felt degrees or MBAs mattered or made a difference, the answer is yes they can make a difference. But of more relevance is understanding how people deal with failure - this builds a more compelling picture. That someone elects not to go to University to 'experience life' is fine but how they deal with that experience is the critical issue. You can learn all you like or experience as much as you can but if don't act differently because of it then none of it is of great relevance.

Failing is important - in science some of the greatest innovations were by-products (euphemisms for failure to find what they were looking for) of research or as I like to call it 'trial and error'. Acknowledging, accepting and dealing with failure is arguably the driving force that differentiates human beings from any other organism on this planet. Recognise it, embrace it, learn from it and apply the new knowledge and ultimately you will be far more successful in life.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

We tend not to stop and think about or reflect on our actions when things go well and we get our desired outcomes. Failure or, at least, things not turning out as expected, prompts us to stop and think about why we did something and what motivates us to carry on. It really is an important, if not essential, aspect of the learning process.

Tracy Johnson, coach and academic, Bristol

Mariéme Jamme- The African Strategist said...

Nigel,

Excellent blog! I have read it with interest!
I have this quote written on a piece of paper and believe me I have got it in my wallet!

Henry Ford- 1863-1947 said: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently” - Quiet insightful!

All the best!

Mariéme Jamme CEO)

Anonymous said...

Hi Nigel,

Failure is crucial, from failure you can learn, it's a feedback process, from victory no, at least it's harder.

let me report a famous quote from a great man (Enrico Fermi), it's about physics, but it can be easly translated into day by day life.

"There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. "

A victory can confirms out strategy, but just time by time, a failure opens new scenarios.


ciao ciao
Ernesto

Unknown said...

Thank heaven I didn't fail to get your point. Great article!

To be sure, I've had failures. I can live with failure....it's the regrets that I really hate.

A

JF said...

I have a problem with the concept of failure. While one might fall short of a goal or miss an objective, the process of learning from those events, in my opinion, make the words "failure is not an option" very real. If you fear failure, then perhaps you never try. It is what experimentation, research and Science & Technology is all about.

While persistence does have its downsides, it has been said that "the difference between a successful and a not successful entrepreneur is that one of them gave up too soon."

Tim Fletcher said...

Nigel,

Great article. I am a Design Thinker so maybe I can help frame failure in a more positive way.

Failure is one of the areas of Design Thinking that best help business management. Designers fail quickly, cheaply and early in order to be able to study what wrong directions can occur and have tangible prototypes in order to user test to find the correct direction.

Failure is an absolute must in order to be strategic and innovative. You just have to do it early in the process. Not going through the wrong choices to get to the right choices is true failure.

Regards,
Tim

JF said...

But Tim, suppose I said that "failure" simply does not exist, and that what exists are "degrees of success." Degrees of success allows for the grays to emerge in an often very black and white world.

Until just now I have never heard of the concept of "design thinking." I must say however that as a strategic thinker (35 years), we don't agree. Failure is not an absolute, because in my mind, failure does not occur until the last course of action or hypothesis has been tested.

If someone can "hate" a word, I hate the word "failure."

Anonymous said...

>>I recently asked a small audience of pretty powerful business types, one of whom had recently received over £1m of bonus while his employer had written off billions, if anyone had ever failed at anything. Not one hand went up.<<

I think if you asked "how many of you are perfect?" they would have responded differently.

Your interest in the positive effects of failure mirror my long time interest in the negative effects, not of perfection itself, in which I do not believe, but rather then negative effects of the desire to appear perfect.

How one faces, admits to, and corrects failure shows so much more about a person than how they handle success.

I always tell new hires in my office: "I don't believe in perfection. If you appear perfect, I will assume you are lying and covering up your mistakes. Besides, as I'm the boss, no one can make mistakes as big as mine."

Nina www.bizblawg.com

Unknown said...

Hi Nigel,

Failure and the perseverance of trying again is no more than a common fact of life where you acquire experience, generate knowledge and gain courage learning by making mistakes and getting the information that you require to make the needed adjustments, improving your analytical capacities and being disciplined and persistent to overcome frustrations, doubts and apprehensions and be finally, in developing successfully any venture and initiative that you are pursuing enthusiastically.

Failure is a common fact in the role of being an entrepreneur, a manager, a leader or a professional. One usually takes a lot of decisions, some of which when are wrong can affect the operational dynamic, having adverse effects over other persons in a way that could affect the professional reputation for the long term.

Worst even that taking a bad decision or making a mistake is not taking decisions at all, because one is paralyzed, feels fear to fail and doesn’t want to face the negative judgment from managers and co-workers.

When I have taken erroneous decisions and I failed, I have been the first one in recognize my mistake with sincerity and humility. Integrity is one of my essential values that I have taught to my subordinates when I have outlined the importance of being accountable and responsible from our decisions, good or bad that we take everyday in our roles as leaders, managers, team-players or specialists.

From a team’s perspective, each mistake that we have done has had its positive side because when we recognize our own failures gain access to a learned lesson that if is assumed with humility, an open minded attitude and with a sincere desire of making the needed adjustments becomes in an excellent opportunity of professional growth and personal improvement.

When one is working responsibly as a manager, consultant or as a leader is logic to expect that in an ethical professional relationship one should accountable for the result, good or bad that could be obtained by doing the best effort possible.

Although there are failures that may be catastrophic for a company and may have profound repercussions for the life and peace of mind of the professionals involved, most of these failures, when these are not a direct consequence from our incompetence, lack of knowledge or negligence offer an extraordinary opportunity to get useful lessons that may be helpful to develop successfully other businesses, ventures, projects and initiatives.

In any transformational project or business where I have participated I make sure that these important assumptions are fulfilled: 1) strategic alignment, 2) competent management, 3) change management facilitation to alleviate employee´s resistance to change, 4) competent and motivated professional to integrate multidisciplinary teams, 5) strong financial control, 6) constant monitoring from business and market trends to make opportune adjustments to the execution plan, 7) senior management commitment to ensure that the whole workforce gain consciousness; 8) a collaborative workplace´s environment within of a knowledge based culture to ensure synergies needed to succeed; 9) an attractive system of incentives and of opportune rewarding to get from the relevant teams maximum commitment and performance, 10) use of relevant KPI´s to monitor the progress of the transformational projects.

From my professional perspective, I am willing to admit ethically and responsibly a business failure, and at the same time, I am aware that any failure has implicit lessons that should be learned, if I want to be successful for the long term.

Excellent blog, Nigel

Octavio Ballesta

Unknown said...

Nigel, I have to say I like the way you think - after reading two of your posts my head is spinning. I have to agree with your premise here - failure is important, but perhaps not a crucial factor to success. The crucial factor, in my opinion, is how individuals deal with failure. Does someone have the self-analytical ability to recognize their own failing? Can they alter their behavior to atone for it, and learn and move on?

Leadership, like integrity, is truly expressed in the hard times. In university, you can mouth the words about not cheating, but what you do when someone hands you a copy of an upcoming exam tells far more about your integrity than any words you can express. Leadership is best expressed when things are not going according to plan. When failure strikes, and you're forced to retrench and reevaluate, and above all react on the fly so you don't have time to prepare/plan, your true leadership style comes out. A true leader is capable of self-analysis and learning from a failure. Some of the examples you site of those who fail spectacularly represent examples of those whose mental defenses will never allow them to acknowledge their own culpability in their failure. And thus, they will not learn from them, and will repeat them.

The most successful people are those who can fail, pick themselves up, learn what went wrong, and move on. This is not easy, nor is it painless. Admitting mistakes is not in our nature. However, to achieve lasting success one can not go through life with blinders on.

Reinventionist said...

Very thoughtful post, Nigel.

Anyone who says he hasn't failed, or devalues the learning that comes from failure, is either naive, completely non-self aware, or lying.
Everybody fails; it's part of the human experience. But you do have to recognize what constitutes failure.
For example, you may have achieved success, but didn't reach the real goal you set for yourself, which might have been completely different.
Yes, failure can hurt. But those who analyse it and learn from it are wiser; those who avoid it are condemned to a lifetime of self-delusion and bitterness.
I'm currently active with baby-boomer businesses, which I call "sage" businesses in that they're usually based on accumulated experience and wisdom. I don't think I've met anyone at that stage of life who hasn't failed at many things and isn't still learning from it.
Part of wisdom is humility.

Anonymous said...

Without reading the answers from other people here;

My reply is; there is no success without failure. Failure is the most basic building block of learning.

As an infant; you don't walk at first try, you fall down a couple times before you succeed.

-Cher Wada
www.wadaconsulting.webs.com

JF said...

Tony etal. With all due respect, Nigel asked me to post emails to further clarify my position on this. It is entirely possible that we are parsing words here, and that in a face-to-face "debate" on this subject, we might reach an accord.

However, I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of "failure" and knowledge. If you achieve and still fall short of a goal, you have not failed per se. Its all a matter of perspective. As a consultant, I have always spoken of the importance of achieving objectives toward a goal. Thus, moving toward the goal and still not (yet) reaching it, is not failure. As an entrepreneur, the fact that my company and my team has not accomplished all that we set out to accomplish does not constitute failure. It means that we still have a distance to travel before we succeed (the fact that "they" keep moving the goal line back is what is frustrating).

I am neither naive, nor non-self aware, nor am I lying. To me its a matter of state of mind.

To this I add (hesitantly) what I wrote to him very early this morning (0530 my time):

Nigel:

Why is it that some people insist that failure is something that even exists? Failure is as absolute as death.

If, as an entrepreneur, I had given up 3 years ago, I never would have had the "joy" of getting our first "big" contract from the USG. If I had given up 5 years ago, we might not have participated in a successful "mission" (can't tell you). On the other hand, if I had given up 12 years ago, I might still be married to my children's mother, never have met my "new" wife, and might still be a wealthy man ("wealthy" is always a matter of degree and personal interpretation). And "if" I secure the final round of venture funding that we now seek, I will look back and realize that all of the earlier "if" were meaningless. Of course, "if" we do not raise our venture funding now, the company will likely shrink ("if" we get a follow-on contract); or worse ("if" there is no follow-on contract - but we do "expect" one).

But if the worst happens, we will not have succeeded, but we will not have failed either. And most certainly I will not, then, look back and say "if I had only," etc. I could go on, but I hope that you understand my point. I think that those people who think that failure is necessary and absolute have never tried to achieve the impossible, or done what others only dream. They may be consultants, perhaps, who tell others how or what to do. But I wonder how many "if" they have in their lives.

Good morning.


Regardless of the outcome, I will have no "if" and I will not have failed. Its all a matter of perspective and outlook.

Gerry and John said...

As suggested on Linkedin I believe faiure drives success. At High School and university I was the pinnacle: straight A's, socially mobile and a capped sportsman in two sports.

When I entered commercial life I had a wake up call that life wasn't easy; expectations were great and my failures there were very hard to accept given the spoiling nature of my adolescent success. It helped me overcome, be more resilient and eventually drive myself to be successful in the context of my world.

Jeff Williams said...

Nigel,

As requested, here's a copy of my LinkedIn reply:

I'm going to challenge some of the Failure/Success thoughts here. But first I want to say that failure is a great teacher and I agree in a large degree with the context of all that has been written, not just here, but in every leadership, management and entrepreneur forum and medium. To take the attitude that each failure is just a lesson to learn on our way to the top you have to have a certain amount of motivation and a great deal of foundational support.
Every time I come across these failure lessons they are usually all part of a major, mind-blowing success story. Someone who has already reached a pinnacle of success is recounting for us the travails, trails, difficulties and of course failures that were overcome and eventually led to their fame, fortune and freedom.
For me, there is something about listening to someone who has achieved their goals or gone beyond what they ever imagined - telling me about the value of failure that rings semi-hollow. Isn’t it easy to romanticize difficulty and failure from a level of achievement, comfort and satisfaction? When you’ve overcome all circumstances you can easily gloss over those feelings of despair, depression or uselessness and talk about how failure is good. Nobody ever wrote a book or led a seminar about success and “failure lessons” while in the throes of actual failure!

I think we can and should learn from the experiences of others. Mistakes are just steps along the path but we need to understand and have some perspective that some sprain their ankles along that path, others break a leg and some never ever do make it to their destination even though they work hard, are good people and honestly deserve to succeed. Failure may build strength but it leaves bruises and scars. There are even those who are destroyed by a single failure. That doesn’t make them unworthy.

Failure needs perspective! Here’s an exercise for some brave person out there. Go to a local homeless shelter. There you will find many examples of people who are currently in the midst of experiencing failure. Read to them J.K. Rowling’s Harvard speech. When you are finished, ask them if they feel inspired to go out and be “successful”.

From the mountain tops all of those valley experiences look tiny (you remember them but only as history) but for those still down in the valley struggling to survive they can’t even see the mountain. Consider what it takes to be on a path that will allow you to leverage failure. Think about those who fail to succeed but are worthy of success. Real people experience real problems and for many they simply do not have resources to overcome their circumstances. How do you write an inspirational self help book for those under the boot of failure?

The next time you hear someone tell their rags-to-riches story and how failure and mistakes made them what they are today, remind yourself that right now, somewhere nearby, a real person is experiencing failure and they are probably not excited about it. Make sure you are doing everything you can to help someone else be successful. Don’t contribute to the failures of others. Take ownership of mistakes you make and the impact you have on those around you. Ease the burden of those who are suffering where, when and however you can. Look for ways to help others see the value they contribute and the potential they have. Help lift the eyes of someone in the valley to see the mountain top and then pick them up and carry them as far as you can.

Now go on out there and celebrate those failures you'll make tomorrow!

Jeff Williams
http://www.linkedin.com/in/williamsjl

Jeff Williams said...

Nigel,

As requested, here's a copy of my LinkedIn reply:

I'm going to challenge some of the Failure/Success thoughts here. But first I want to say that failure is a great teacher and I agree in a large degree with the context of all that has been written, not just here, but in every leadership, management and entrepreneur forum and medium. To take the attitude that each failure is just a lesson to learn on our way to the top you have to have a certain amount of motivation and a great deal of foundational support.
Every time I come across these failure lessons they are usually all part of a major, mind-blowing success story. Someone who has already reached a pinnacle of success is recounting for us the travails, trails, difficulties and of course failures that were overcome and eventually led to their fame, fortune and freedom.
For me, there is something about listening to someone who has achieved their goals or gone beyond what they ever imagined - telling me about the value of failure that rings semi-hollow. Isn’t it easy to romanticize difficulty and failure from a level of achievement, comfort and satisfaction? When you’ve overcome all circumstances you can easily gloss over those feelings of despair, depression or uselessness and talk about how failure is good. Nobody ever wrote a book or led a seminar about success and “failure lessons” while in the throes of actual failure!

I think we can and should learn from the experiences of others. Mistakes are just steps along the path but we need to understand and have some perspective that some sprain their ankles along that path, others break a leg and some never ever do make it to their destination even though they work hard, are good people and honestly deserve to succeed. Failure may build strength but it leaves bruises and scars. There are even those who are destroyed by a single failure. That doesn’t make them unworthy.

Failure needs perspective! Here’s an exercise for some brave person out there. Go to a local homeless shelter. There you will find many examples of people who are currently in the midst of experiencing failure. Read to them J.K. Rowling’s Harvard speech. When you are finished, ask them if they feel inspired to go out and be “successful”.

From the mountain tops all of those valley experiences look tiny (you remember them but only as history) but for those still down in the valley struggling to survive they can’t even see the mountain. Consider what it takes to be on a path that will allow you to leverage failure. Think about those who fail to succeed but are worthy of success. Real people experience real problems and for many they simply do not have resources to overcome their circumstances. How do you write an inspirational self help book for those under the boot of failure?

The next time you hear someone tell their rags-to-riches story and how failure and mistakes made them what they are today, remind yourself that right now, somewhere nearby, a real person is experiencing failure and they are probably not excited about it. Make sure you are doing everything you can to help someone else be successful. Don’t contribute to the failures of others. Take ownership of mistakes you make and the impact you have on those around you. Ease the burden of those who are suffering where, when and however you can. Look for ways to help others see the value they contribute and the potential they have. Help lift the eyes of someone in the valley to see the mountain top and then pick them up and carry them as far as you can.

Now go on out there and celebrate those failures you'll make tomorrow!

Jeff Williams
http://www.linkedin.com/in/williamsjl

Duey Evans said...

I believe that most entreprenuers, me especially, need failure as a platform to build upon. Unfortunately, whether or not we are risk adverse (and I don't believe the thought most of us have a high tolerance for risk), it is almost impossible to take the blinders off when looking at an idea that is so crystal clear in one's own mind.

Athletes with the best balance learned to walk by trail and error - rather than being taught by someone holding their hands and commanding "left, right, left". The same holds true for entreprenuers. Fall down, get up and try it again!