Have you ever failed?
Posted on 17. Mar, 2009 by Mike Georgeson in Enterprise
As I was going through my morning information routine, I noticed a number of articles that I’d put in the “how to not fail” bucket. I read a few of these and noticed a consistent tone of “failure is bad – here’s how to avoid it.”
Throughout my life and career I’ve failed at many things, large and small. I view failure as a fundamental part of every entrepreneurial endeavor, whether it’s a failed project, someone you hired, a partnership, relationship, lead, customer, or even the entire business. One of the sad things about entrepreneurship in the UK is that failure is frowned upon.
We need to be more like the USA and accept that failure is acceptable. In America when great people fail, they acknowledge it, learn from it, get up, dust themselves off, and get back at it. If you accept reality, you can fail gracefully and hopefully learn something from it. It’s never fun – and it can be really stressful / painful / emotionally hard – but it’s a part of learning, evolving, and growing stronger and better.
While I fail at stuff regularly, in my world view, the best leaders understand that failure is an integral part of things. The cliche “fail fast” is one of my favorites. When things aren’t working, deal with it. Another is the famous line from Atlas Shrugged “Nobody stays here by faking reality in any manner whatever.” Denying that failure is part of our existence is akin to faking reality.
While I accept “the experience of failure” feels “negative / crappy / depressing / hard ”, I don’t believe that “failure is bad.” Deal with it, learn from it, pick yourself up, and try again.
