Fear of failure. <GULP>
How many of us have allowed that to dictate what we choose to do or, more likely, not do in our lives? I know that I’ve suffered from it myself and it is something that I still fight internal battles over regularly. However, the older I become, the more I’ve come to believe that taking action, even if its based on incomplete information, is preferable to sitting still and waiting.
Still, the less information we have, the greater our chances for a mistake, right? So what happens when you make that mistake? You might look foolish and there will likely be losses of time and perhaps investment. But you should also gain more information so that your next attempt will benefit from your past experiences.
As a general rule, I’ve found that action is better than inaction. The key, however, is to embrace failure as a welcome companion and teacher. In business, we need to view failure not as something to be punished but rather as an important way to gain new insights and information. Just be careful not to bet the whole farm when you are taking your chances.
A lot of us have probably heard some version of the story of how Jack Welch, the successful former CEO of GE, made this huge mistake that he thought would end his career (he blew the roof off of a factory… though, thankfully, no one was killed). Still, Jack got called into the corporate office and the apocryphal version of the story that has him telling the company president that he knows that he is fired. That’s when the president of the company responded with “Why would I fire you Jack? I just spent a million dollars educating you!”
That may not be exactly how the conversation went but it demonstrates the exact mindset we need to have when dealing with failures. We need to learn from them and view them as a necessary step in the process that ultimately culminates in success.
There are lessons here for all of us. As leaders, we need to allow our teams to try things that don’t have guarantees. Ask challenging questions and put a stop to things that may do true harm, but otherwise, encourage the explorer spirit in your team and run interference for them so that they can take these calculated risks. Also be sure to hold everyone accountable that there are things being learned from these efforts.
Then, as employees, we need to take this responsibility seriously and make the most well-informed decisions we can, talking to others and vetting our ideas. At the same time, we need to be champions for our causes and not be cowed into giving up just because we don’t know what will happen.
Having these attitudes permeate our organizations can reap huge benefits for everyone involved.
Let me close by sharing a few of my favorite failures from history to serve as a booster shot for when you are faced with falling flat on your face:
- Vincent Van Gogh sold just one of his 800+ paintings during his lifetime… and that was to the sister of one of his friends for about $50
- Dr. Seuss had his first book rejected by 27 publishers; J.K. Rowling had her first Harry Potter book rejected by 12 publishers
- Michael Jordan has publicly owned his over 9,000 missed shots, 300 lost games and the fact that he choked 26 times when it was up to him to make the game-winning shot… oh, and he was cut from his high school basketball team
- Henry Ford went broke 5 times before he finally found success
- Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs… and struck out 1,330 times
With each of these people, and with countless more, the one thing that they all share is the determination to try, fail and to try again. Finding that bravery in ourselves can lead to amazing outcomes if we are brave enough to try, and strong enough to keep getting up.
Know that I’m pulling for you!
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