I was talking with someone recently who expressed their anxiety about failing. They weren’t failing, and hadn’t failed. In fact, they are currently doing well, but their concern was that their current successful set of circumstances would slip away and they would repeat an unpleasant time in their lives about which they still feel they failed. Any of us who are leaders understand this anxiety. The fear of failing can be a powerful force that can cause us to freeze up, unable to make decisions and move forward. However, it can also be an equally powerful motivator that causes us to commit to making sure that we learn from the past and not make the same mistakes again.
Walt Disney is quoted as saying, “I think it’s important to have a good hard failure when you’re young.” There are stories of Thomas Edison working through 10,000 unsuccessful tries at creating a viable electric light bulb and saying that he hadn’t failed, but found 10,000 ways that didn’t work. In both of these cases, the common thread is their attitude toward failure. Walt failed many times along the way to creating what is now a legacy which will lasts for countless generations, and Edison will be remembered for the multitude of inventions which we now take for granted. Each failed over and over on the way to success, but each learned from the failures and figured out ways to not repeat their missteps. We don’t know if they were afraid or had late nights filled with anxiety about whether or not they would fail again. All we know is that they didn’t allow the fear to take them out of the game. They kept playing, and today we are all better for it.
I love the statement that NASA coined during the Apollo missions to the moon, particularly during the almost tragic Apollo 13 mission, “Failure is not an option.” For them it wasn’t about entertainment or daily conveniences, it was about human life. If they had failed to find solutions for the catastrophic equipment failures of Apollo 13’s command module, they would’ve lost three astronauts. In their case, the fear of failure was a huge motivator. It could not be even considered. Interestingly though, a few years earlier NASA had lost the three astronauts of Apollo 1. When this happened, there was discussion about whether or not the risks were too great to continue to program. Fortunately, in my opinion, they decided they could learn from their mistakes and continue to move forward. I believe it was the right decision.
In my conversation with my anxiety-filled friend, I tried to encourage them to work to overcome their fear, to learn from the past, and become stronger for the future. I may have to do this many times, but eventually, I hope they will grow and learn to use failure as a tool for success. Walt Disney is also quoted as saying, “Accept the pain of the past. Learn the lessons of the past. Then dream big dreams of the future and start chasing them. Above all, live your life as a grand adventure.” These are great words of advice for all of us who lead others and face the risk of failure on a daily basis.
Lead well.