“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill
Winston should know. He was last in his class. It took him three attempts to get in the college of his choice, and he took third place in his first campaign for parliament. He was considered a disaster as the First Lord of the Admiralty, he even got demoted.
Oh yeah, and he is considered one of the ten most influential people of the twentieth century and he was voted the greatest Briton Ever in 2002. Forever in Brittan is a long long time.
So who cares? Well you do if you want to do great work. You can’t achieve anything real unless you are prepared to fail.
In the days of layoffs and salary reductions it only feels safer to play it safe. Sometimes we get so twitchy and anxious that we stop taking chances with our work. We don’t want to get yelled at, so we play it safe.
Now I’m not talking about the failure of sloppy mistakes, half-baked work or the failures of indifference. When we make those kinds of errors, no one can see the shred of genius that might be woven in to the work.
I’m talking about spending time on the great “what if’s” of our work. Anyone, even you, may well have the idea, the vision that makes the difference. If you are too afraid to be put down, or worry managers will think you are crazy, we might never oh, say win WWII or something like that.
As leaders it’s vital that we leave room for the mistakes and far fetched notions of our staff. Give people confidence that there are some failures that are a necessary part of great work. If you don’t the great work this firm is known for becomes tepid in a big hurry.
So don’t be afraid to be wrong. And don’t be afraid to believe in yourself.
Because Winston knew something else about how to see yourself in the world: “I know that we are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow worm.”
Go on. Try.
Comments
Brilliant article!
Great perspective - will be bringing to my next staff meeting.
Eve, I loved your post. I teach that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback, so that we can learn, have 'break through's and 'Eureka' moments. Sometimes it takes time, we may have that epiphany weeks or months later after reflection time. We have the right to make mistakes, to change our mind and values.
What is important is that we know what we stand for, are courageous, and can wait for delayed gratification.
Eve-thanks for the tip.It's a thoughtful and funny article that you always do so well.
To be dogged down by Defeat is worse than the Defeat itself. I would rather be known as the one who led trying than the one who gave up!
Winston Churchill sounds like the British version of Abe Lincoln!
Look for strength of character to come back into fashion in tough economic times like these.
Great article.
Even if I did vote for the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the Greatest Briton. I am sure he also had a few failures on the way.
Eve, next time write dear Stephan at the top. :-) needless to say this is wonderful advice I am taking to heart.
Thanks!
Great article!
Eve, Excellent article! kudos to you. I just read the book "Failing Forward" in the book John C. Maxwell points out that failure is a good thing as long as one uses the experience as a positive one and the mistakes as stepping stones to greater things to come. Which reinforces what you just highlighted in your article.
It is hard to make Human Resources interesting and entertaining, but you have managed to do so.
Thanks for sharing this Eve. It's hard to accept failure or taking risks with everyone living in fear in the ad world. Thanks for the reminder that this is the only way to grow stronger and do better work.
Nice. Definitely forwarding to my kids.
Great points. A reminder to persevere. Thanks
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