Page 3 - Inside Access May 2nd Edition

FOOD FOR THOUGHT things failure
teaches you
about leadership
As you reflect on your career and future, step-back and assess your body of work and how it has impacted the manner in which you lead. What makes you a stronger leader and provides you the perspective to cast a greater vision and help others achieve more?
Failure ultimately shapes you as a leader
As a senior executive or an entrepreneur, failure will fuel the most rewarding opportunities and learnings in your career. Whether it was the decisions made, the people hired, the investments made, the relationships you invest in – or any of the ones you didn't – from each experience you learn something new about leadership. For example, developing a better understanding of the expectations people have of you as their boss; of how to deal with a marketplace that can be so unpredictable; of how certain relationships are connected to resources you didn't know about that could have made your path to success much easier.
“Failure is the most powerful source for know-how and understanding. It teaches you about survival, renewal and reinvention of yourself and the organization you are leading.”
Failure is one of life's greatest enablers. Think about it. If you never failed at anything, you would never be forced to take action to course-correct or try new ways to seize opportunities previously unseen. In the end, it's what you do with failure that defines your character as a leader. For example, do you admit defeat – or do you find a creative way to mask reality? Do you ask yourself what you learned during the process of failing – or do you hold someone else accountable and / or blame the circumstances you were faced with?
Great leadership is about being accountable for your actions. Some of the greatest leaders in history failed at one time or another, a list that includes ThomasEdison, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, and many others. Their ability to hold themselves
accountable enabled them to persevere, become better leaders and build their legacies.
Here are failures that can teach you about leadership and make you a better person too:
Confront your failure and learn from it
Instead of running away from or masking the failure you experienced, take the time to reflect upon the situation. Confront the issue head-on and evaluate what you could have done better and identify the lessons learned.
If other people were involved (directly or indirectly), ask them to provide you feedback and indentify the opportunities that can be seized from this learning moment. Quickly create a plan of action while the pain you experienced is fresh and begin to outline how the key learnings from the failure can be used in different situations.
Contributed by Oye Jolaaoso
PAGE 3 INSIDE ACCESS | MAY 2021 2ND EDITION