I wouldn't be surprised that if we do an inventory of what all successful business people have in common its that they all have failed in the past.
It's not that I am glorifying failure in my blog this week, but it is an admission that success often comes after many, many failures.
What is the difference then between success and failure? I believe its what successful people do after they fail...John Maxwell says that these people fail forward.
They do 3 things well and these are:
1. They learn from their failures
At the recently concluded franchise conference and expo in SMX 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to listen to Jollibee Chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong talk about the success of Jollibee, I was surprised by the many failures they experienced in the past and continue to experience today in their desire "to bring the joy of eating to everyone". For example, not many people know that their first several stores overseas were failures...how about Manong Pepe which they just decided to close down.
It's also a fact that we learn more from our failures than our successes. I tell my wife Jac not to be overly protective of our kids that they don't fail. All the worthwhile things I've learned in life is when I have failed. Like knowing who your real friends are vs. fair weather friends when you screw up.
2. They never make the same mistake twice
What does it tell you, when we make the same mistake twice? Well, it tells me that we have not learned from our previous mistake or that we have not done our homework to find out what the actual reason was for that failure. I like what BJ Sebastian, the Chief Strategist of JG Summit shared with us recently in the 5th International Chrysalis Institute - Asia that all we need to learn from a 2 year MBA really is the art of finding what the root cause of the problem is and what it will take to fix it.
3. They try their best never to make fatal mistakes
Successful people are risk takers for sure, but they take calculated risks, risks that won't wipe out the company if they fail. They don't believe in silver bullets or once in a lifetime opportunities that will require majority of the resources of the company.
Imagine that you are playing Texas Hold'em and you have just gone "all in" on the river (last) card with pocket jacks (holding a pair of jacks not seen by other players) only to find out that you were up against a player with pocket aces and more chips that you had. :( Talk about making a fatal mistake. Now how many times have we done that in real life? How many times have we gambled the entire family estate on something that we thought was a sure thing.
Successful people will not go all in, because it is just like Texas Hold'em - it's gambling. They make mistakes but never fatal mistakes.
Failure can be something powerful, if we let it teach us something, if we never make the same mistake twice and if we never get caught up in making an all or nothing bet.
Last but not least, successful people are people of action, they act and experience the power of failure and are recognized for it.
Are you not succeeding at the level you'd like to? Maybe it's because you're not failing? Like Henry Ford said, double your failure rate! Make sure you experience it's power and be one step closer to succeeding in your chosen field!
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