Can Failure Really Be Your Friend?

There’s an outdoor billboard near General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee’s major airport) with a picture of Abraham Lincoln. The caption reads: “Failed. Failed. Failed. And Then…….”. Underneath this phrase appears one word: “Persistence.” This billboard, produced by the Foundation For A Better Life, has appeared in cities and states around the country as part of a series of uplifting, inspirational themes.

Because I was curious to learn more behind the campaign, I went to the Foundation’s web page: www.forbetterlife.org.There I saw a series of billboards featuring a variety of famous and not so famous individuals who represented values such as Albert Einstein (confidence), Shaquille Oneal (perseverance) Winston Churchill (commitment), and Christopher Reeves (strength). All of these people faced incredible odds in their quests to succeed in their chosen fields: Einstein was a poor student who failed math; Shaquile Oneal earned his college diploma in the off-seasons when he wasn’t playing basketball; Churchill was considered a poor communicator early in his life; Reeves was thought to be just a Hollywood lightweight by many of his peers, until he showed a level of courage that many people with his tragic condition wouldn’t find in themselves.

In today's email, I found more on failure that further supports last week's blog on why so many people are reluctant to take any chances in life. A message from Marketing Profs entitled: "Make Failure Your Friend". The message cites a quote from Marketing Safari by Hjörtur Smárason:

"Mistakes are a necessary part of learning, development and innovation..... "There's a lot you don't understand until you try it on yourself. And if you let the fear of failure stop you from trying something new, you'll face nothing but stagnation."

"One mistake doesn't mean that the next attempt is more likely to fail," says Smárason. "Actually, it should be the contrary. It should be more likely to succeed as that person hopefully learned something from the mistakes (see the full article: http://blog.scope.is/marketing_safari/2008/05/are-you-never-t.html

To be sure, risks must be calculated and carefully vetted. But one must keep in mind that nothing worthwhile on the face of the earth came about because of a reluctance to take on risk.

So get out there and swing for the fences--unless you never want to cross home plate.