Commence and Don't Look Back

This past week I had the opportunity to join my family to celebrate our nephew’s graduation from the University of Oregon. The excitement of the graduates, energy in the stadium and pride of the family and friends there supporting the students was uplifting and gave a timely reminder to us all of the optimism of life.  What struck me listening to the various speeches from great orators, was on several occasions they lectured the graduates to not be afraid to fail.  Of course, the message was “reach for the stars”, “do great things”, “change the world” – but along the way, do not be afraid of those bumps in the road when things don’t go as you had hoped.  

I thought about this message and related it to my long career as a professional in recruitment and executive search. As you can imagine, I have heard all sorts of stories from both candidates and companies that face issues, are unhappy, need change.   Some of the best candidates I have interviewed are those who are honest about the failures they have had, because they took those experiences and capitalized on them. They never regretted “trying” and only learned how to do things better.  

Many companies (or people), get stuck in their ruts. Things are going well, profits are there, why take risks or change? Sometimes the candidates who are not perfect on paper, have the ability to make the greatest impact. Fresh ideas, personalities that are off the charts, different experiences, can bring new life to your team and organization.  If you are only hiring candidates who check every box, you are missing out. If you are a candidate and only applying for jobs that are checking all your experience boxes, you will not grow. Take risks, fail, get back in the game and grow! Most of all, enjoy each experience along the way.

And cheers to you, class of 2019! Commence and don’t look back!