How Positive Leadership can help us to rebuild from failure and drive change

Welcome to the Positive Leadership & You newsletter.??

First, I want to thank all of you for joining me on this journey towards developing a more positive mindset.??

It was incredible to hit 1 million downloads for my podcast in February.?

If you’re new to the concept, I’ve created a series of 5 minutes podcasts that explain the 9 Powers of Positive Leadership. You can catch the latest episode ‘Learning to Build with Others’ here:??

Let’s continue to grow and thrive as we use what we’ve learned together, to make a difference.?

This month, we look at how you can rebuild yourself after failure.

Me: Focusing on our personal growth, wellbeing and being positive?

When Douglas Conant , Former President & CEO of The Campbell's Company and founder of ConantLeadership lost his job as Director of Marketing at a games company, his first instinct was to see himself as a victim. He was angry and frightened. But after being connected to a counsellor, Doug was asked to write his life story. Through doing this and with coaching, Doug was able to get a deeper understanding and appreciation for who he was and everything he’d achieved. It gave him a new perspective, made him focus on his values and strengths and plan for a new and successful career journey.??

Writing down the story of your life can be transformative, helping you to rebuild after facing a challenge.??

You can listen to my conversation with Doug here:?

If you want to do amazing things, you'll have to stand on the mountain of “nos” before you get to a “yes”.?

Elite sports people like Michael Jordan know this, as does Bertrand Piccard , who I interviewed for the podcast in February. An environmentalist and aviation pioneer, Bertrand shared some fascinating insights on the power of failure.?

Here are three key actionable takeaways:?

1. Admit failure is a tragedy?

1. Know it is a failure if you don’t keep trying?

1. Find out why you failed, question yourself and try again in a completely different way?

Bertrand made three attempts to fly around-the-world in a hot air balloon. After two “masterful failures”, Bertrand completed the first ever successful non-stop balloon circumnavigation of the globe. He did the same in 2016 in a solar-powered aircraft, the Solar Impulse, and in 2028 he will attempt to fly around the world in a green hydrogen-powered aircraft.??

His desire to achieve the impossible is in his DNA, but anyone can learn from his approach to failure, which always drives him forward to fulfill his goals, even when the odds are stacked against him.??

If you speak French, you can listen to my conversation with him here (or translate the transcript to find out more):?

I encourage you to read more about Bertrand’s inspiring work and environmentalism online, and find details of his next incredible challenge here:?

Me & Others: Connecting with and empowering others to achieve more.?

Being prepared to accept and then learn from failure is not easy, but it can be transformational. It’s why former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll , created a culture where his players felt safe to try and sometimes fail. Pete told me:???

We have to create an environment where it's okay for people to take the risks that they need to take to find out what their limits are… they need to show that they have support and then allow them to go to places that they wouldn't go if they weren't feeling comfortable.?

A team with a fixed mindset may never fail, but neither will they learn or grow. A team with a growth mindset will use their failures to improve and achieve greater success.?

When we adopted the growth mindset culture at Microsoft, there was a lot of discussion about how you can have this mindset and yet hold people accountable at the same time. Like Pete, we discovered that it’s just as important to reward risk taking, whether the action succeeds or fails, as it is to reward success.?

I am excited that I’ll soon be joined on my podcast by the academic and psychologist, Angela Duckworth , who developed the concept of a growth mindset. Her bestselling book, Grit , makes the case that a combination of passion and perseverance is the mark of high achievers and that we all need to be willing to fail, sometimes. Read more here if you can’t wait for our conversation: https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-book/

Me & the World: Having a positive impact on the world??

I think it’s important to remain optimistic that we can and will solve the challenges we face as a planet. If we don’t try, nothing changes. But not everything we do will work. That doesn’t mean we stop trying but that we learn, adapt and evolve. This is how all successful entrepreneurs think. They use setbacks as a fuel to propel themselves forwards.???

Baroness Martha Lane Fox was a pioneering tech entrepreneur back in the 1990s and went through the highs and the lows of that era’s startup culture. Today she finds her purpose as a philanthropist, public servant and business leader. She still applies her entrepreneurial drive to solving societal problems, but she’s also learned that there’s not just one way to succeed:

“It was way, way harder than I had anticipated at the beginning of the journey and I was definitely guilty of thinking set a big goal, get everybody- doing the classic entrepreneurial thing like big vision and then failing miserably against it. And in a way I wish I’d approached that differently. I wish I’d approached that more bottom up. I wish I’d listened a bit more to some of the communities that had been doing this work for ages and people that needed to be helped...”?

You can hear more of my conversation with Martha, here:??

So, the next time you face a setback, take time to reflect but make sure you move on. What can you do differently next time? Who can you ask for help? Don’t get into a cycle of negative thinking, or of blame. Adopt a positive mindset and you will find the path forwards.???

All the best.?

-jp?