Help Wanted: Failures

Resume

Job Objective: To obtain a position where I can leverage my significant failures.

Key Accomplishments:

• Lost a major account to the competition because I got too comfortable and assumed that the customer was happy, when they weren't.


• Hired the wrong person for a leadership position and as a result, employee engagement dropped 2% over the prior year.


• Risked $1.5 million on a new product launch that failed.
  

Fastcompany.com recently had a fascinating two-part interview with Sir James Dyson, founder of Dyson, the maker of the best selling vacuum cleaners in the U.S. by revenues. (Article part 1, part 2 ). Dyson describes himself as an inventor, who created 5127 prototypes of his vacuum over 15 years before getting it right.

Dyson says, "I've always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they've had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative."

What a refreshing perspective on failure!

Another Fastcompany.com article by Richard Watson , CEO of Global Innovation Network, talks about Celebrating Failure. In the article, Watson says "Most companies -- indeed, most people -- fail more often than they succeed. It is the proverbial elephant-in-the-boardroom. And yet by being scared of failure, we are missing a great opportunity. The point about failure is not that it happens but what we do when it happens. "

Both Dyson and Watson are talking about failure in the context of invention and innovation. They argue that creativity relies on failure - and learning from those mistakes. I'll go a step further. It's not just inventors and product development specialists that need to embrace failure. Everyone in today's organization has the right, and the need, to fail. Sometimes miserably.

Unfortunately, our society encourages hiding failure. When we fail in a job, career coaches often teach us how to put a positive spin on it...or bury it all together. When politicians or corporate executives make big mistakes, their first reaction is often "I didn't know about it", "I wasn't involved" or "Someone (or something) else was to blame."

I am not afraid to say that I have failed, sometimes miserably. But one thing I can say with confidence is that I learn from my mistakes. Rarely do I make the same mistake twice. And I always use what I learn from the failure to propel me forward in other directions. Sometimes it does take two steps back to take three steps forward.

In job interviews, one of the questions I teach managers to ask is, "Tell me about a big mistake or failure you've had recently that had significant consequences." The responses you get are fascinating. Often candidates claim that they can't recall any examples (the Alberto Gonzalez defense)...or that they haven't made any big mistakes with significant consequences. These candidates are either: a) Fibbing b) Guilty of having a very bad memory (unlikely) or c) Very risk-adverse individuals who always do exactly what they're told to stay safe...and never any more.

In any case, the "I haven't had major failures" answer raises huge red flags about a candidate. I'll take the candidate that smiles and coolly tells me in great detail about a major misstep or failure...and what he/she did about it. The person that turned the situation around and landed on his/her feet, smelling like a rose, is the candidate that interests me most. This is usually the same candidate who has a track record of stellar accomplishments and success throughout his/her career.

Of course, failure has to be balanced with good judgment, forward movement and ultimately success. Here are some of my ground rules for failing successfully, with grace and brains.

• Fail quickly and cheaply if you can.
• Know the risks. When you fail, you shouldn't be blindsided by the consequences.
• Cut and run when you need to (don't hang on too long...which goes with the first bullet).
• Don't be bitter. If you lose a promotion because you failed, accept it and move on.
• Take time to think after failure. Failing to learn from failure is the only REAL failure.

What's the failure you're proudest of...and why? What good came from it?

© 2007. Phyllis Roteman, The Loyalty Group. All Rights Reserved.

Richard Branson Shows Boredom Can Be Good

Richard Branson, the king of Virgin, gets bored easily. According to a recent blog by Gary Bourgeault, Branson channels this "problem" into a positive by "getting himself into numerous businesses that he can spread himself around in." It hasn't held him back too much.

It makes me think, what other "weaknesses" or problems can leaders turn into positives?

A recent article by Mark Thompson confirms that the ability to overcome personal challenges - or turn your weaknesses into strengths - is critical to leadership and entrepreneureal success.

- Charles Schwab was dyslexic and almost flunked out of Stanford, having failed English twice. In business, he overcame this reading problem by speaking from the heart (nixing the need for reading and writing long memos and speeches).

- Cisco CEO John Chambers was also dyslexic, so he relies on memorized speeches and interacting personally with people as much as possible.

Branson's story hits home for me. Not many people know this about me, but I failed high school and got into college with a GED. I was bored and questioned everything. I thought something was wrong with me...until I found a way to channel my "weakness" into a positive. As a consultant, it's my job to question the status quo and help solve problems. I now get paid for what I got punished for in the past. Go figure!

What is your biggest personal struggle or challenge - and how can it work for you as a strength?

© 2006 The Loyalty Group. All Rights Reserved.

Soft Skills Training in MBA Programs

Yesterday's WSJ Online had an article describing how top tier business schools like Dartmouth and MIT are now focusing on the soft skills of managing, by "...copying and adapting popular corporate techniques such as coaching, personality assessments and peer feedback. The article says the schools are responding to increasing interest from employers who are looking for better inpersonal skills in freshly minted MBAs.

I remember when I was pursuing my Executive MBA at the University of Miami's business school several years ago, I had a few academically-obsessed professors who frequently "poo pooed" the work of consultants. (Overall I HIGHLY recommend UM's Executive MBA program and most of the professors were amazing.) One Leadership professor in particular grudgingly shared some of Ken Blanchard's work, to "just let us know what's out there," because we'd probably be exposed to it when we got into the corporate world. She clung to her heavily-research based theory and leadership models, which in her opinion (and which she was not shy about sharing) was much more ligitimate than the practical but "light" stuff that corporate consultants taught.

It's about time that business schools started recognizing the need for balance between teaching strategy, finance and analysis (the "hard" stuff), and the interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence (the "soft" stuff) required to lead effectively in today's business environment.

What's the implication for business? You can capitalize on this trend by doing the following:

• When hiring new business school graduates, ask them what they learned about the "interpersonal-side" of managing in their MBA program. The WSJ article says that many programs now require students to take leadership assessments and create development plans for themselves. Find out what insight graduates gleaned from their assessments and development plans, and what actions they have been taking to hone their skills.

• Don't assume that even with soft-skills built into the curriculum, new MBAs are ready-made for leadership responsibility...particularly the challenge of managing people of diverse backgrounds and styles. Nothing is a substitute for the first-hand experience of leading people in a corporate setting. Give them support, such as mentoring, continuous leadership development training and coaching, to help them deal with the day-to-day challenges of applying soft-skills theory to the real world.

• Talk to your local college about incorporating practical, soft-skills training into their MBA and undergraduate business programs. By doing this, you're helping to create your own pool of better-prepared, new leaders in your own back yard.

• Keep your seasoned managers' soft-skills sharp with ongoing development. New business school graduates with stronger interpersonal skills raises the bar on all leaders in the organization. Make sure your vets are getting the same tools and resources your new managers are getting. It's easy to assume that veteran managers have "been there, done that" when it comes to training in topics like Coaching, Performance Management and Giving Feedback. But seasoned vets get sloppy on the soft-skills without continuous development, feedback and refreshers (I include myself in that category...even I can get sloppy and I teach this stuff!).

For more information about succession management and the importance of soft skills for future leaders, see the following link to our e-newsletter:

http://www.theloyaltygroup.com/tt.Vol1.issue7.pdf