Most of us like to support or follow a winner. In the world of sports, teams like the New York Yankees, the New England Patriots and others have a solid following because of their history of success.
In the world of business, success is also sought by many, but there is actually a great deal of value in failure.
Why would anyone want to fail? Those who have failed can stand to gain many advantages in a new or emerging business. Let me share a few ways failure can be a much better teacher than success:
1. Failure allows a leader to understand what his or her limits might be.
The failures you personally encounter help you learn what you like, what you don’t like and where you have erred in decisions that led to those failures.
For me, one failure that comes to mind is my choice to attend the United States Naval Academy immediately after graduating from high school. Shortly after arriving in Annapolis, I realized that what I thought I wanted was not in line with I would be doing in this opportunity. While it was a great honor to be selected for the Academy, I learned that I should have done more due diligence prior to arriving.
2. Leaders who fail gain insight into their skills, abilities and limits.
Some of this insight might be similar to what I just described, but other insight includes preferences for working individually versus leading others or becoming a subject matter expert by focusing on internal issues versus having an external focus and working with clients.
3. Leaders who fail also understand the pain that comes with failure.
Failure involves loss, and there is significant emotion and pain that comes with it. It is hard to appreciate gain or success without having understood the feeling of loss first.
4. Leaders who fail gain a greater drive to persevere and succeed in the future.
Success is fun, but easy success is like sugar: It tastes sweet for a short period of time, but the long-term impact is negligible. Failure is more like protein or fiber. The immediate impact may not be noticeable, but the long-term gain is great. Having a memory of failure can provide a strong drive or focus for any leader in a new venture. That’s why investors often look for entrepreneurs who have failed once or twice when they seek out leaders for a new venture. It’s a great launching pad for future success.
Take Abraham Lincoln, for example. Before he became president of the United States, he was defeated in a state legislature race. He failed in business, had a nervous breakdown, was defeated for Speaker of the House, lost a nomination for Congress, was rejected as a land officer, was defeated in a run for the U.S. Senate (twice) and was also defeated in a nomination for vice president of the United States. But none of these failures prevented him from becoming our 16th president, who is also considered one of our best presidents.
Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb after over 1,000 failures and said that he didn’t really fail; he just learned 1,000 ways not to design the lightbulb.
Though not a pleasant experience, failure is a great way to learn and grow. Dealing with failure takes time and maturity and also requires feedback and self-reflection in order to gain the maximum benefit.
As you grow and advance as a leader, be sure to reflect on and learn from the failures you have encountered. If you cannot find any significant failures to learn from, you may need to stretch and take more risks. Repeated failure is not a good thing, but controlled and monitored failure is beneficial and meaningful in the development of any leader.