Prepare to Fail
Failure is inevitable. Regardless of your level of talent, prior successes, or future projections, you will run up against failure at some point in your life and in your career.
In my book, Great Leaders Always Follow, you will hear several stories of great leaders who always followed through, even is the face of "failures." The most important thing we all need to do is to internalize the fact that failure is not final, fear is not real, and opportunity is everywhere. Let’s break each of those down.
Failure Is Not Final
Failure is never final, unless you quit. With each failure comes an opportunity to learn and improve. It would almost be better to remove the term “failure” from your vocabulary. If you have a vision or a goal, the only thing stopping you from achieving it is you. Everything else is simply helping you towards realizing that vision or goal, one way or another.
For example, if you are looking for investment to help you towards your end goal, you do not want an investor who is not sold on your vision. If someone tells you “no”, move on until you find the person or organization with whom your vision resonates.
Fear Is Not Real
One of my favorite scenes from “After Earth”, with Will Smith and his son, is when Cypher (Will Smith) tells young Kitai (Jaden Smith) “Fear is not real. The only place fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real, but fear is a choice.”
I cannot agree more with Will Smith’s character. If we are asking for a well-deserved promotion, pitching venture capitalists for funding, or attempting to lead change, it will be very unlikely we find ourselves in danger. It is unlikely that someone threaten your life, your current job, or anything else because you tried to innovate, iterate, or initiate something that you saw as a need for your organization. So what stops us? In the words of Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky Balboa” as he talks to his son, “If you know what you’re worth, go out and get what you’re worth, but you’ve got to be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you’re not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and that ain’t you!”
Opportunities Are Everywhere
Unless your organization’s human resource strategy is to hire untalented, unmotivated, spineless individuals, you were hired for a reason. Yes, there’s a job description that gets posted, but at the end of the day, you were hired to add value. Selling yourself short by confining the value you bring to stay within the walls of your job description is a quick way to become invisible.
Each and every one of us were born with unique talents and have the capacity for greatness. In a world where organizations still fight to figure out how to break down silos, what better way to do this than start engaging with cross-functional colleagues to see what value you might be able to offer them? On the flip side, go out and actively seek input from your cross-functional colleagues. Collaboration builds trust, trust breeds more communication, and trusted communication breeds alignment that gives you the highly coveted synergy most companies only dream about.
In the process of becoming the networking guru of your firm, your lens becomes wider and the possibility of identifying opportunities multiplies. Nobody wants to consider themselves or be considered a coward, but when you shrink back from opportunity to maintain the status quo, that is exactly what you are falling prey to. Remove the fear, realize the lack of present danger, and go after those opportunities with rigor. Take the hits, iterate on the feedback, learn from everyone you meet, and make something great happen in the process.
To hear some real-life stories of great leaders who followed through in the midst of "failures" to ultimately reach success, look for my book, Great Leaders Always Follow, releasing in mid-Q1.