How do we overcome the stigma of failure and start embracing and encouraging failure as a pathway to success?
All successes are built around failure. Thomas Edison was once famously asked by a reporter how it felt to have failed so many times in creating the electric lightbulb. He replied that he hadn’t failed at all, he had merely discovered 9,999 ways NOT to make a lightbulb. As a result of Thomas Edison (and a few others) learning to harness the power of electricity, think of all the inventions we use today that would have been impossible if they had just given up after failing, or worse never having started in the first place for fear of failing. Einstein is famously quoted as saying failure is nothing but a steppingstone upon the path to success. James Dyson says he has failed over 5,126 times!! But he loves failing, each failure teaches him something new. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected 12 times, that’s a lot in the world of publishing. 12 people telling you your work won’t sell!! But did she give up? Wilbur and Orville Wright decided to make the first man-made flying machine, they went through countless “failures”. These are all fantastic examples of the importance of perseverance, embracing and learning from failure, grit and determination and never giving up.
One problem I think might be the word “failure”. It brings up thoughts of not being good enough. Think about these phrases; an abortive attempt, belly flop, botched job, come up short, draw a blank, go bust, down in flames, let the side down, lose face, lose out, lost the plot, ballsed up, drop the ball, blown it, flunk, crash and burn. I could go on and I’m sure you could think of many more. What this illustrates though is the links, connotations and associations we have with failure. Language is a powerful tool, but sometimes we forget just how powerful. I am a Neuro Linguistic Practitioner, Hypnotherapy Practitioner and Coach and I see the amazing power of language on people in these areas. So perhaps we should consider how we can change our language around the learning process that is an unsuccessful attempt or venture. That way we might better be able to capitalise on the hidden seeds of success that are found within all failed attempts. The other thing that strikes me is that failure sounds final. Like that is the end. However, it’s only the end if you stop trying. Failure is part of a process.
In the military failure is often stigmatised, I think this is partly due to our reporting and promotion system and culture. The only way to get promoted is through excellent reports, ROs are looking for successes, what you did, how you did it and the net effect/impact!! Well, you might have failed a lot and learnt a lot which will lead to ultimate success, but that doesn’t read so well. However, if everyone plays it safe and only goes for things they think they will succeed in, then we won’t grow and stretch and hit those moon-shot ideas like the rest of the world that is learning to embrace failure. The new business culture is fail fast. The faster you fail the faster you learn. The business model of perfecting your service before releasing doesn’t work anymore. Someone will beat you to it. You have to create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and get it out there. Each time you do you get a ton of feedback and data. You then take it on board, adapt and re-release. This way you get exponentially better each time. How do we change a culture that’s so embedded in the way we do business?
Do you feel up for a challenge?
How would you recommend we get past this stigmatism around failure? What would you do? What if there were no limits?
