Failure is never FInal

 The Indian Cricket Team's triumphant victory in the T20 World Cup 2024 was a moment of immense pride and joy. Their consistent performance throughout the tournament showcased their skill, determination, and unwavering spirit. They were undoubtedly the most deserving winners, demonstrating excellence in every match they played.

While celebrating India's victory, it's important to reflect on other teams' journeys. The South African cricket team, despite their talent and potential, has often fallen short in crucial moments of earlier world cup campaigns as well. A notable instance was during the 2015 World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, where they were highly favored but lost in the semifinal. In this year's World Cup final, they found themselves needing 30 runs from 30 balls with wickets in hand—a seemingly achievable target. However, the psychological burden of past failures likely played a role in their inability to clinch the victory. Despite this, their journey to the final demonstrates their resilience and character, and it’s only a matter of time before they overcome these challenges and win the silverware.

M. Scott Peck begins his best-selling book "The Road Less Traveled" with the words, "Life is Difficult." Indeed, we all face difficulties and failures, but the key is to use these experiences to improve our chances of success. In fact, it might even be better to not label anything a failure. Here are some expanded thoughts on this idea to make the most of failure and get better.

Fail Forward

John Maxwell, in his book Failing Forward, posits that successful people distinguish themselves by how they respond to failure. IBM founder Thomas J. Watson famously said, "If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate." Failure is inevitable, but it’s crucial to dust ourselves off and move forward, learning valuable lessons along the way. Failure is another way to begin intelligently. It’s not about avoiding failure but embracing it as a step towards greater success. The book Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen highlights three qualities of great leaders—fanatic discipline, empirical creativity, and productive paranoia—which help them navigate and overcome failures. Success is about maintaining a vision, committing to it, and viewing obstacles as opportunities for growth.

Accept Reality

Max De Pree stated, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” This involves balancing a visionary outlook with the stark realities of the current situation. Jim Collins' Good to Great introduces the Stockdale Paradox, named after James Stockdale, a decorated U.S. Navy officer who survived eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Stockdale maintained unwavering faith in his eventual success while confronting the brutal facts of his reality. This mindset is essential: accept the present while believing in a positive outcome. As Stockdale himself said, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life.”

Improve

Continuous improvement is crucial. “If you are not getting better, you are getting worse.” Success can lead to complacency, which is the greatest threat to future achievements. Steve Jobs, described as a "learning machine" by Laurene Powell Jobs, constantly improved by learning from failures. Bill Gates, who keeps a poster of Henry Ford to remind him that even the best can be surpassed, exemplifies the mindset of continuous improvement. Strategies for improvement include reading widely, taking courses, and engaging with educational content. Constant self-improvement helps turn failures into detours on the path to mastery.

Long Haul

Enduring success requires patience and perseverance. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Mastery in any field typically requires around 10,000 hours or roughly 10 years of deliberate practice. Sacrifices are part of this journey, as Tony Robbins notes: public praise comes after years of private practice. Keeping a long-term vision can help navigate short-term failures, maintaining motivation for the larger cause. As Beverly Sills said, “There is no shortcut to any place worth going.”

Understanding

Understanding the purpose of life gives it meaning. Success is personal and goes beyond material gains. Clare Boothe Luce’s concept of a “life sentence” encapsulates this idea. Defining personal, career, financial, and family goals can provide direction and fulfillment. Glen Cunningham, who set a world record despite severe injuries, exemplifies the power of a burning desire to succeed.

Reinvent

Failure is an opportunity to reinvent oneself. Viktor Frankl’s quote, “The last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances,” underscores this idea. Reinventing oneself can turn past failures into stepping stones for greater achievements. The story of Chicken Soup for the Soul, rejected by nearly 140 publishers before its success, illustrates the power of perseverance. Walt Disney and Beethoven, despite early rejections, went on to create timeless legacies. Reinvention involves digging deep, maintaining high self-esteem, and continuously striving towards one's dreams.

Energy

Sustaining energy is crucial for overcoming failures and achieving dreams. Physical and mental energy are essential. Regular exercise, proper diet, adequate sleep, and mental stimulation through positive content are vital. Writing in a journal and tracking small victories can keep one energized and optimistic. Mark Cuban, in How to Win at the Sport of Business, emphasizes learning from failures and persevering until success is achieved.

Growth Mindset

Adopting a growth mindset is pivotal in overcoming failures and achieving long-term success. Carol Dweck's research at Stanford University highlights the difference between a fixed mindset, which sees abilities as static, and a growth mindset, which views challenges as opportunities to develop skills and intelligence. Embracing a growth mindset allows individuals to see failures not as setbacks but as vital experiences for growth and improvement. For example, companies like Microsoft under Satya Nadella's leadership have embraced this philosophy, fostering a culture where learning from mistakes is encouraged and innovation is driven by continuous improvement.

Resilience

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It is a critical trait for turning failures into success. Resilience involves staying positive, maintaining flexibility, and learning from setbacks. The story of Elon Musk, who faced numerous failures with his companies, including SpaceX's early rocket launch failures and Tesla's production issues, is a testament to the power of resilience. Despite these challenges, Musk’s perseverance and adaptability have led to groundbreaking successes in both space exploration and electric vehicles.

Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust to new conditions and is essential for navigating the ever-changing landscape of challenges and opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of adaptability in both personal and professional contexts. Companies like Zoom and Slack thrived by quickly adapting to the increased demand for remote communication tools, while many others struggled to pivot their business models. On a personal level, adaptability means being open to new ideas, flexible in approach, and willing to change course when necessary.

Tenacity

Tenacity is the quality of being determined and persistent. It is about holding on to your goals despite the difficulties and obstacles that come your way. Thomas Edison, who conducted over 1,000 unsuccessful experiments before inventing the light bulb, exemplifies tenacity. His famous quote, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work," reflects the mindset needed to achieve great success. In the modern business world, Jeff Bezos's relentless pursuit of innovation at Amazon, despite numerous early setbacks, showcases the power of tenacity.

Empathy

Empathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others. It is a crucial leadership quality that helps build strong, supportive relationships. Empathy allows leaders to connect with their teams, understand their challenges, and provide meaningful support. Companies like Google and Salesforce prioritize empathy in their corporate cultures, promoting employee well-being and creating environments where individuals can thrive. On a personal level, practicing empathy can lead to more compassionate and effective communication, fostering stronger relationships and support networks.

The principles of overcoming failure and achieving success are highly relevant in the IT industry, particularly in software development and testing.

In software development, failure is often part of the innovation process. Agile methodologies, which emphasize iterative development and continuous feedback, are designed to handle and learn from failures. Companies like Spotify and Facebook have embraced Agile to enhance their development processes. Facebook's mantra "Move fast and break things" encourages developers to experiment and learn quickly from their mistakes, driving rapid innovation.

In software testing, the ability to learn from failures is crucial for improving software quality. Test-driven development (TDD) and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices help identify and address failures early in the development process. Companies like Google and Amazon use these practices to ensure high-quality software releases. Google's emphasis on "blameless postmortems" after failures encourages a culture of learning and continuous improvement, where the focus is on understanding and fixing issues rather than assigning blame.

As Mark Cuban says in his book How to Win at the Sport of Business “The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and from those around you because … All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.” So as the article suggests failure is never final in whatever you do for a living and you can always come back. Good Luck on your journey of success.

Thanks for reading this post.

The views expressed in this article are my own and do not represent my organization. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Tips to Develop a Pleasing Personality

Image
A pleasing personality is very important to develop as we move forward in our career. It can also help us in our personal lives. In the book Believe and Achieve by W.Clement Stone he gives some great tips on developing a pleasing personality. Here are the 10 tips I liked with my take on each. Take an inventory – The first step in developing a pleasing personality is to first be happy in your own skin. Take an inventory of all the wonderful qualities you are bestowed with. Some of the qualities you may have are self-discipline, honesty, character, integrity and passion. Even if you don’t have some of these qualities you can put together a plan to be the person who has all the qualities you desire. By dreaming of your ideal self you will steadily move towards becoming that person in reality. Observe yourself  – All top athletes replay their performance to see where they have done well and where they can improve. Similarly after each major interaction you can evaluate wh...
Read more

12 Guidelines to Effective Communication

Image
The number one skill required to succeed in the current job environment is communication. All things being equal communication is what will distinguish you from others. The reason is with the explosion of outsourcing and project teams being in diverse locations the ability to communicate and collaborate are essential skills to have. The key to better collaboration is communication. Here are 12 guidelines to communicate better. Be Clear  - The first step in communication is to make your message short and crisp. Simplify your message. Clarity is an absolute must. Use Simple Words  - Be wary of using bombastic words and use simple words instead which relate with the audience or person. Simplicity connects people. Be other centered  - Make your interactions with people more about them and take the focus off yourself. A key to effective communication is having a genuine interest in other people. Pay attention to where you focus when you communicate. Think about other...
Read more

The 5 P's of Ethical Power

The book “The Power of Ethical Management” by Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale was published in 1988. The principles laid out in this book are still relevant today. It consists of information which is of timeless value and serves as a worthy reminder on ethics and its importance. I particularly liked the 5 core principles of ethical decision making mentioned in the book. Here are the 5P’s of Ethical Power Purpose  – The authors define purpose as ongoing. It is something an individual lives by. A personal mission statement of an individual can serve as the purpose. It is the vision you have for yourself and what you would like to be known for. The authors mention something called the mirror test where you look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if everything you are doing is aligned to your purpose. If there is anything not aligned to your purpose ignore it. I like this line  “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.” Pride  – A healthy self...
Read more

Life is like a Test Match in Cricket

Image
I love the game of cricket. I was an avid cricket follower at least till the time Rahul Dravid retired. The five-day test match is the true test of patience. Believe it or not even after 5 days you can have a game with no result which is perplexing to some. To me the 5 days that a cricketer goes through is the same all of us go through during our work. We all get usually five days in a week to perform at our best. The only difference is while cricketers may not play test matches throughout the year or even a life we all will get easily 40 years of playing test matches week after week. With the advent of Twenty Twenty the viewership for test matches are dwindling but the drama of a test match is something that can never be replaced. Imran Khan once said to succeed in 20-20 you need a lot of talent, a little technique and not much temperament. However, for test matches you need all the other T’s in abundance. The epitome of a test match player for me is Rahul Dravid. He had an abu...
Read more

10 Qualities of a True Champion

Image
Champions are born but they are also made by relentless practice, clear goals, never say die attitude and a willingness to learn something new every day. I loved the book “The Way of the Champion” by Jerry Lynch. It has a lot of examples from sports but a lot of it can be applicable to us as well. Here are the lessons I gleaned. Self-acceptance : The first step in being a champion is being comfortable with who you are. Accept yourself unconditionally and remember all champions have weaknesses. Understand your strengths focusing on those while complementing your weakness are with the strengths of others. Self-definition : Define what you want to be known for. For example, you may want to be known for your discipline, passion, persistence and ask yourself every day if you are doing these things. Decide what message you want to send to your team or stakeholders. Modesty:   If you know you are a champion you don’t need to show off. You will be totally comfortable with yourself a...
Read more

7 Inspiring Lessons from Elon Musk

Image
Elon Musk is one of the greatest business icons of the 21st century. With the passing of Steve Jobs he has rightly taken the pole position in the realm of business leaders who are considered visionaries. I read the book on Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance and it is a wonderful inspiring read. Here are the lessons I gleaned.  Be in it for the long haul – Irrespective of what our aim is unless we have decided to be in it for the long haul it is very difficult for us to scale the heights that we are capable of. Elon Musk in 2008 was in dire straits. Space X and Tesla were both running out of money but the man was in it for the long haul. He didn’t care about short term setbacks. He always looked to the future with hope and was over optimistic in most cases. He set unrealistic deadlines as that’s the way he thinks.  Everything he does is fast and he is always in a hurry. He pays an obsessive attention to detail and for SpaceX he wants to reduce the cost of lau...
Read more

Mastery by Robert Greene - An Inspirational Book

Image
Biographies can really inspire us. Imagine reading around 15 mini biographies at the same time. This is what Robert Greene has done with Mastery. This is one of the best books I have ever read and goes deep into what it takes to reach mastery in your field. I have read this book multiple times and it is a worthy addition to your library. This summary is only an appetizer and you really need to read this book in its entirety to get the full satisfaction. Yes it is not an easy read but well worth your effort. Here is a very high level review on what the book contains. Don’t separate your work from your personal life it is a sad separation since most of our time is spent at work so we can’t be miserable there. He also says masters felt a sense of destiny. For example Albert Einstein was immediately moved when his father gave him a compass when he was just 5 years old. Discover your calling. Each of us has a purpose to fulfill so discovering that is the first step towards mastery....
Read more

The Dream is Free but the Journey Isn't

Image
I was discussing with my daughter some time back about dreams and it got me thinking that we always encourage our kids to dream big while encouraging them that they can achieve anything they want. However is that really good solid advice. I thought deeply about what do dreams signify and how can I explain to kids that you cannot achieve anything you want but you must think big while working towards your dreams. It also got me thinking that some of the adults have stopped dreaming so I really wanted to write this piece addressing what it takes to do your dreams. The word dreams project an excitement that no other word can. Dreams are a vision for your future which pulls you to wake up every morning with a smile and look forward to each day with excitement. In my opinion get excited about your life first and then you can truly wake up with a smile. Just read this wonderful article from Larsen Jensen  Positive Psychology Lessons from an Olympic Medalist and Navy SEAL . He says h...
Read more

Never ending journey of Success and Goals

The first step to understand about success is that it is not a destination but a wonderful journey that never ends. The best definition of success I have come across is by Earl Nightingale "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal/goal." It is the process that’s actually exciting. Most of the times once we reach goals like getting the promotion or losing the weight we can’t keep up momentum but it is the process that actually keeps us energized. Once we achieve our goals we feel good for that moment but in order to keep that feeling ongoing we need to keep setting new goals. The important thing to remember is that goal setting is a lifelong activity and it does energize our lives. People talk a lot about dreams but there has to be a distinction between outrageous dreams and dreams that ignite. I can have a dream to be the greatest tennis player that ever lived but that dream is surely not going to be realized and it is very much outrageous. I think when we s...
Read more

Talent is Never Enough - 13 Factors to Maximise your Talent

Image
Talent is not something that is gifted at birth. Of course there are a few exceptions that make things look so easy and we tend to believe that they are born with a certain gift. However if we go deeper they reached their Everest by harnessing their talent and get the best out of themselves. Talent is never enough by John Maxwell is one of the best books I have read. It is quite motivational and inspirational. He identifies thirteen factors that can help maximise your talent. Here is brief overview of them with my take on each. Belief lifts your talent    – The first step is to believe in yourself. You can’t go far without believing in your talent. We can all agree that we have enormous untapped potential and we have to believe first before we get the most out of ourselves. Have a personal mission statement that is exciting. My mission statement is to maximise my potential and help others maximise theirs. Passion energizes your talent – Obviously if you want to mak...
Read more