Failure is a reality of life for all of us. None of us achieve what we want all the time. Expert leaders do not have less failure than entry-level leaders. Expert leaders simply have a better-built “Failure Factory.”
This Failure Factory is not the production line; failure is a given in life and is produced just by being alive. This is a processing factory and everyone has one. Failure goes in, we choose how to respond or react to it (the processing part inside the Factory), and our leadership effectiveness is strongly impacted by what comes out the other end: how we are fundamentally changed (for good or ill) by the failure.
Expert leaders positively influence people and situations to create value and growth. This means they are able to remain positive even when failure is fed in. They are able to still influence others and opportunities, despite the failure. They have the uncanny ability to be valuable and grow even when failure is present. How?
Expert leaders have developed the ability to…
- Recognize and be okay with the fact that they are flawed. They are very self-aware.
- View failure as temporary. They have their sights set on the long-term.
- Actively seek out learning lessons by asking why did this happen, not just how did this happen. They look for meaning.
- Laugh at themselves. They take their job seriously, but not themselves.
- Fail, learn, adjust, risk again, fail, learn, adjust, risk again, fail, and so on.
Take a good look at your Failure Factory. You can drastically improve your ability to create value and growth by improving the inner workings of your Factory.
Rhett Laubach is a professional speaker, author, leadership expert and founder/operator of YourNextSpeaker, LLC in Edmond, OK. For 15 years, Rhett has presented interactive, educational programs, in 35 states, to more than 500,000 individuals. He also coaches hundreds of individuals to develop their communication skills. To learn more visit www.YourNextSpeaker.com, PLI Blog: pliblog.YourNextSpeaker.com, & Speaking Blog: speak.terapad.com.
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Technorati Tags: Failure, leadership effectiveness, responding to failure, recognizing flaws
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Excellent Article! John C. Maxwell wrote a great book about “Failing Forward” which talks about the importance of learning how to fail that causes us to move forward in life.
Rhett captures the essence of this concept, but adds a great twist to it around how we as leaders put “failure” into our personal factory and determine its outcome. Rhett… your a good “thought leader”. Congratulations on a great article.
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 am
As author of a book on overcoming failure, I know a good article on the subject when I read one…Rhett has hit the nail right on the head with “Failure Factory”. I look forward to reading more of his posts! Keep it up!
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:22 am
Nice article. I agree with this 100%. I once saw a survey of self-made millionaire business owners and something like 75% of them have had at least one failed business venture.
I am a fan of Winston churchill. He has a couple quotes that deal with failure:
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
and
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.