| Wasting Failure, What's The Use of A Broken Tree?
July 2008
|
What have you done with your recent successes and triumphs?
How have you used
and celebrated them?
What have you done
with your failures
and setbacks? Have
you used them to learn
and build toward success?
The blind
spot
Many managers waste
failures. Pain, pride,
and not being able
to tolerate the anguish
or embarrassment blinds
them from seeing the
opportunities of blunders.
What is the "Failure"
blind spot?
1. Letting personal
feelings blind you
from discovering what
in the process could
have happened differently,
and how you will do
it differently next
time.
2. Personalizing and
identifying with a
blunder, losing confidence
and thinking "I
am a failure."
3. Viewing failure
the way people viewed
leprosy: don't touch
it, don't see it,
and it will go away.
4. Missing the learning
and innovation opportunities
that can arise from
now knowing what not
to do.
5. Refusing to "do
the grief work"
- not internalizing
and assimilating the
development experience.
Comeback heroes
More than anything,
we admire comeback
stories: people and
organizations that
were able to turn
the disorienting uncertainty
of a blunder into
a learning and growth
opportunity. Apple's
"Macintosh"
was born out of the
wreckage of the "Lisa",
an earlier product
that flopped and was
reengineered to become
a great success and
one of the most important
steps of the personal
computing revolution.
Steve Jobs returned
to Apple to deliver
the greatest second
act in business. He
is now making a run
for a third act. Bernie
Marcus got fired from
Handy Dan, a do-it-yourself
hardware retailer,
in 1978. It was possibly
the best thing that
ever happened to him;
he went on to start
Home Depot. Michael
Bloomberg became a
partner at Salomon
Brothers, but in 1981
after a merger, he
was fired. Using his
severance, he started
a financial data and
communications company.
Bloomberg L.P. grew
rapidly into a huge
enterprise. Bloomberg
himself became a multibillionaire,
and a successful Mayor
of New York.
Before he became the
US President in 1860,
Lincoln had lost a
job, been defeated
for state legislature
in 1832, failed in
business, had a nervous
breakdown in 1836,
lost his re-nomination
to the Congress after
only one term in 1848,
been defeated for
US Senate in 1854,
been defeated for
nomination for Vice
President in 1856
and defeated again
for US Senate in 1858.
What can we learn
from these stories?
The most devastating
blow can turn out
to be the greatest
kiss of life. It depends
on what you choose
to do with the blow.
Wisdom in
the forest
Years ago my wife
Sara and I hiked Cape
Lookout in Oregon.
It's a piece of land
sticking out into
the Pacific Ocean.
About two thirds of
the way, we came upon
a very large tree.
We sat down next to
it to catch our breath
and realized this
large tree was actually
growing out of the
remnants of the trunk
of a much larger tree.
I carefully examined
it and concluded the
standing tree was
possibly 120-140 years
old. The broken tree
out from which the
new tree had grown
must have been even
older when it was
struck down. The remaining
old trunk was huge.
Perhaps it was 240
or 350 years old when
it was damaged some
120 to 140 years ago?
This meant the old
broken tree was standing
and growing some 400
to 500 hundred years
ago.
We asked ourselves:
How powerful was the
storm that came through
this forest 150 years
ago? How did it break
a 250 year old tree?
This huge tree got
our minds focused.
Nature was offering
us a piece of ancient
wisdom. Part of the
huge root system of
the old tree remained
intact. Instead of
the entire system
atrophying because
the tree was broken,
a part was able to
redirect its flow
into resurrecting
a new tree. The beautiful
tree that grew out
of the broken tree
utilized part of the
old root system. The
lesson was clear:
nature never wastes
a failure. Nature
utilizes all the parts,
everything.
In our modern world,
most broken things
have no use. They
quickly become trash.
We rarely pass things
down to others for
their use and have
largely lost the art
of re-utilization.
What's the downside
of the "convenience
culture?" The
easy "get two
for five dollars"
culture breeds laziness,
which is a big part
of this blind spot.
Breakdowns are treated
as leprosy: we don't
want to touch them.
Failure is viewed
as a dead end: we
don't see the transformation
it brings. Blunders
are discarded and
failures get wasted
because it takes work
to realize the opportunities
they bring, and it
is the kind of work
that most people are
not prepared to do.
Falling isn't
failing
As a toddler, you
learned from every
setback. How many
times did you try
to take the first
step and fell before
you succeeded? It
was natural and you
kept at it. As adults
we learn to shy away
from such experiences.
Two-year-olds explore
everything within
reach; their zest
isn't lessened by
frustration or falling.
Falling isn't failing;
it's learning. Adults
learn to stay in the
walled gardens of
their successes. It's
a comfortable place
but a sure way to
miss out on more adventure
and learning. Are
you prepared to turn
blunders into learning
experiences to discover
the opportunities
they present?
I am not asking you
to over-analyze setbacks.
I'm inviting you to
discover the opportunities
they bring. Discover
nature's way - never
waste a broken tree.
Figure out how to
fail fast and fumble
your way toward success.
That's what your muscles
do. The point where
the muscle fails is
where the tissue tears,
which in turn stimulates
the nerve that innervates
the muscle to grow.
Never waste
a failure
We can all learn from
Thomas Edison and
Steve Jobs. They didn't
identify with their
failures. They saw
them as signposts
along the way. Having
tried that door already,
they asked: What else
is there? As Edison
said: "If I find
10,000 ways something
won't work, I haven't
failed. I am not discouraged,
because every wrong
attempt discarded
is often a step forward...."
He also said: "Many
of life's failures
are experienced by
people who did not
realize how close
they were to success
when they gave up."
Reflect and
Act
Here are a few points
for a good family
discussion or a meeting
with your team:
1. Think about your
own journey. Where
have you been able
to use a broken tree
as the foundation
for a young new tree?
2. How have you turned
a crashing disaster
into a growth opportunity?
What treasures have
you found in the wreckage?
3. What was the learning
and how did you apply
it?
4. How about showing
your people how to
learn from setbacks?
How about celebrating
mistakes and having
a blunders party?
5. What setbacks are
you dealing with right
now? What is the new
insight that they
bring? How can you
turn those into thriving
opportunities?
6. What new adventures
will you take on to
fail fast, learn and
move on?
One more thought.
Bill Gates likes to
hire people who have
made mistakes: "It
shows that they take
risks. The way people
deal with things that
go wrong is an indicator
of how they deal with
change," Gates
says.
Now it's your turn.
Turn the Key and use
a setback to grow
a new tree.
Remember Edison, who
said: "If we
all did the things
we are really capable
of doing, we would
literally astound
ourselves...."
© Aviv Shahar
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Your Engagement Benchmark
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use to assess your
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© Aviv
Shahar | |
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