"Failing Forward"

I was recently asked to give a talk to a group of our employees as part of our organization's "Lessons in Leadership" seminar series.  Actually, I gave the talk earlier today, so the timing is great for tonight's blog post!  I was asked to talk about learning from failure and turning failures into success.  I don't know about the success part, but I have certainly had my share of failures.  Anyone who says that they've never failed is either (1) not telling the truth or (2) completely risk-averse that they've never pushed past their comfort zone.  The author J.K. Rowling (I hope you have heard of her!) certainly believes this to be true and told the 2008 graduating class of Harvard (watch her commencement address here - it's well worth your time) that, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." 

Rowling failed early on - both professionally and personally.  But it was only because she failed that she moved to her life's true passion, writing.  She writes, "Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations.  Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.  I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies." 

She goes on, "You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.  Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned."

There is absolutely nothing wrong with failure.  As a matter of fact, it is almost virtually impossible to learn without failing.  Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson has spent most of her career learning about how individuals, teams, and organizations can learn by failing.  Her research suggests that good leaders will build a "learning culture" in their organization such that both small and large failures are always recognized, continuously reported, and thoroughly analyzed so that the organization can learn, experiment, and improve.

By failing, then, we gain new knowledge and experience.  As the inventor Thomas Edison was heard to say after trying 10,000 times, unsuccessfully, to build a light bulb, "I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways how not to build a light bulb."  By failing, as Rowling suggested above, we grow more resilient.  We test our boundaries and push beyond our comfort zone, and we find that failing is not that bad.  We learn that we will be okay, and the next time we push just a little harder and go just a little further outside of our comfort zones.

Before I finish, I have to make a confession.  While I have heard of the phrase, "Failing Forward", I actually didn't know where it came from.  Its actually the title of a book by the leadership guru John C. Maxwell.  I picked up a copy from our local library and will definitely take a deep dive into it later this week.  It looks to be packed with helpful anecdotes about famous (and not so famous) people who have failed and were all the more better for it.  Just my kind of book.

So perhaps my first and most important lesson from today's talk about failure was this - don't be afraid of failure.  We will all fail.  But growth and maturity come from learning from our failures and getting better for the next time.  Life is not always filled with successes.  Some times, it seems that life is full of failures.  Embrace the failures.  Learn from them.  You will be a better person and a better leader because of your failures.