How CEO's Learn From Failure

In June of 2021 I asked CEO’s in my LinkedIn network to share their experiences with failure.

When I asked these CEO’s “Have you had more success or more failure in your life?” Only 25% felt they had more failure than success.

When I asked “What do you or other people misunderstand about failure?” Most said failure is a learning experience, not an attribute or conclusion of self or state.?

And finally, when asked “What is the most important thing you’ve learned from failure?”?60% attributed failure as an indicator of progression and the other 40% saw it as imperative to learning.

Based upon this small sample I could conclude that a CEO's sees themselves as having more success in life than failure, and that failure is essential, and even imperative to learning, which helps you progress or move forward.

Learning from failure is key.?However, saying you need to learn from failure for many is like saying "just climb Mt. Everest."? How do they or you learn from failure? That is the questions that I worked on for the last three years while researching my new book “Learning Frames.”

What is the mechanism for learing from failure?

In an interview with CEO Ryan Carson about how he grew his business, Treehouse, he admitted how learning helped him move the business forward.

Like all of us Ryan had a time when he flat-out did not know what he needed to do.

From the interview:

“I started to work really hard and it was just super discouraging, [but I knew] I basically had to build out our business to business. We were a consumer business and we didn’t t sell really much to business at all and I knew that’s where we needed go and I had to go figure it out… it was just super discouraging I didn’t know anything about sales I literally had to go to YouTube and learn how do you sell things.

I felt humiliated… Here I am I’m a grown man, I’m a CEO and I don’t know how to sell something and I don’t want my employees know and so I had to try to teach myself all this stuff and it was months of getting rejected feeling dumb not knowing how to build a sales pipeline.”

Once Ryan learned the skills he had to work hard and visualize what success looked like.

How did Ryan win?

When life throws you a curve ball and unexpected things happen that make achieving your goals difficult you need to put it in your Learning Frame.?Framing your experiences as something to learn from helped Ryan learn his way out.

How did Ryan learn?

Success is not the absence of failure.?Failure teaches you how to move forward.?Ryan framed his learning and became self-directed with feedback, governed by purpose.

If replicating steps or mindset is the key then why not find a success person and clone their method?

In the Book “The 12 Week Year” by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, they present an example that actually supports the need for Learning Frames.

“One of our clients is a large insurance company with more than 2,000 agents. Within the company there is one agent who is a perennial top producer year-in and year-out. As you might expect, over the years, other agents have asked him if he would share his approach with them. Without hesitation the top producer would take time out from his busy schedule to walk them through exactly what he did to create his success. Do you know how many people replicated his success? You guessed it, zero. He now refuses to share his secret because no one follows through with what he teaches them.”

Moran and Lennington point was lack of execution is the main reason we fail to achieve. However, in the example of the replicating the top producer, I believe the authors and other self-help systems gloss over what is really happening here.?Even a monkey can replicate steps in a plan, what is really happening here or not happening is a Learning Frame.??We have to replicate the mindset, the learning goals and the ability to learn from failure of top producers, not just the steps.?If the agent in the scenario above was able to explain his method and articulate his Learning Frame at each step, then alignment can occur.?It is within the Learning Frame that execution becomes permanent and repeatable.?

Your mind naturally views situations and experiences in terms of learning.?From birth you have been creating Learning Frames to explore and explain the world around you.?

These Learning Frames are how these leaders view change, how they view learning, and their mindset toward failure and success.?

Framing failure as something to learn from starts with these self-revealing steps:

STEP 1

• Define the Reason for Learning

STEP 2

• Analyze your ability to learn

STEP 3

• Make a plan or Stratedgy to achieve your learning goal

STEP 4

• Be accountable for what you know and Evaluate what you still need to learn to achieve your learning goal

This is how Ryan learned and why the insurance company agents didn’t learn from their top performer.? I conclude with some positive, insightful thoughts, from those leaders who contributed to this article.?

Mike Morgan PhD? ?

“…failure is all part of pushing the envelope. It's imperative to redefine "failure" as "learning from experience" and that "success only comes after many failures"

Steve Bowers? ?

“Failure means you are progressing, getting out of your comfort zone. Never let it stop you from believing in yourself.”

Eppie Adams? ?

“Every time I've failed (according to someone else's or my own preconceived perceptions), I've learned to find the silver lining and pivot as needed.?My parents taught us how to fall - both physically and metaphorically.?But, more importantly, they taught us how to pick ourselves back up again.?I've walked over 2.5 miles on a sprained ankle because there wasn't any other option.?It's the same for me in business.?If something knocks me down, I've learned to pick up the pieces and walk the metaphorical miles back to something better.”

Allison Roberts? ?

“People often think of failure as not hitting a very specific mark (state champion, management consultant, etc.). I've always been of the mentality that I'll shoot for the stars and if I miss, I'll still be in outer space. Life isn't a cleanly defined, linear experience. Success will look very different for different people. I think we should look at life's experiences as learning milestones and a series of pivots. I'm very happy with where I am today. If I had "succeeded" at some of the goals I listed above, I might not be where I am today. But I'm happier now than I would have been in another position. So really, I "succeeded" by failing at my other goals. Life's really what you make it.?What is the most important thing you’ve learned from failure? Failure is the greatest teacher, and not because you need to get slammed really hard to learn. It's the greatest teacher because it shows that YOU were willing to put yourself out there and shoot for something audacious. You learned a lot more from that than you would have with a smaller goal in a sterile environment.”

Brandon A. Smith? ?

“You will grow as a leader the more you have failed which enables you lead a team to success. What is the most important thing you’ve learned from failure? If you are vulnerable, your team will be loyal to you regardless of failure. People want to see you succeed and they want to be a part of a team that is truthful and honest. If you are willing to admit when you are wrong, own your mistakes, and work with others to help them avoid the same pitfalls you are on your way to being a great leader.”

Adam Crosley? ?

“What is the most important thing you’ve learned from failure? Is to not let your most recent failure affect your next success.”

Peter Edelstein, M.D.? ?

?“Life goes on and opportunities for success and happiness are not diminished by failure (unless you allow it).”

To those who are reading this article, please respond to this question in the comments of this post.

“What is the most important thing you’ve learned from failure?”