Why Leaders Must Embrace Both Success and Failure, and the Wisdom They Bring

"It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure" - Bill Gates

I don’t like to disagree with inventor, philanthropist, industrialist, founder of the world’s largest software business: Bill Gates. He is rather successful ??.

But, truth is, I don’t agree with this statement.

The end of the year is a natural time to reflect on our successes and failures over the last twelve months. With most of us being more than ready to beat ourselves up about the things we got wrong, it’s tempting to use Gates’ comment as a sign that we should pick up our biggest cudgel and be even tougher on ourselves.

I’m not so sure!

Firstly, leaders need to get better at celebrating success in the first place. Gates’ comment suggests that celebration is something that happens regularly, which just isn’t the case. In fact, while many leaders will put time into the lessons of failure, most do not celebrate success at all. And yet, celebrating together with our colleagues can be hugely unifying, restorative and affirming. So, don’t prioritise learning from failure at the expense of celebrating success!

Secondly, leaders are under so much pressure to begin the next thing that they don’t stop to learn from failure either. Too often, leaders I coach lament the reality that people just keep making the same mistakes with the same sticking plasters used to hold things together. So, there is a need for leaders to make time to learn from failure – as well as to celebrate success.

Thirdly, the received wisdom is that we learn from failure. Gates’ quote backs this up with its implication that success is for celebration while failure is for learning. But success brings learning too. In fact, research from Chicago Booth School of Business found that people learned more from success than from failure. We can learn from a myriad of different experiences – not just the painful ones.

So, whether you are reviewing 2023 with your team, with your family or by yourself, celebrate your successes, acknowledge your failures and learn from both. You are undoubtedly a wiser leader today than you were 12 months ago, and that is as a result of both your failures and your successes.

And, as ever, observe yourself and others with interest and learning, not with criticism and judgement!

Catch you next time!

Heather