Article contributed by Karen S Sieczka

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all. --Edward de Bono

As entrepreneurs, we have all failed at one time or another. An idea doesn’t pan out, a deal falls through, we get rejected by an important client, things don’t turn out as expected. We feel disappointed and sometimes we even feel hurt. Often, we want to throw in the towel. When this happens, we need to remember failure is an important part of the process of building success.

Failures can become turnarounds. Lee Iacocca brought the failing Chrysler company back from the brink of extinction in the 1980’s. Harry Truman failed miserably in many business ventures before becoming president of the United States. If these two had given up when things were tough, their names would be lost to history.

You probably know who James Dyson is. He is the guy who invented the extremely successful and popular bagless vacuum. It took him over 5,000 tries to get his design right but he used each failure to make improvements and move closer to his desired end result. We wouldn’t even recognize his name if he had thrown in the towel after the 10th failure or even the 4,999th failure!

Everyone knows who Colonel Sanders is. He concocted the secret herb and spice recipe that made the most famous fried chicken on the planet. He was rejected over 1,000 times before someone thought his recipe was finger licking good.

Look at the Wright brothers. How many times did they have to regroup before their airplane left the ground? Look at Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They didn’t wait for the perfect search algorithm. They started the company and then refined the process as they went along.

Thomas Edison was known for the incandescent light bulb and first recording of music on a wax cylinder. He and his colleagues tried thousands of experiments, some miserable failures, some partial failures, some successes, but each attempt, each process brought something to the table, and sparked an idea or brought them closer to a solution for another puzzle.

Read biographies of famous people. Even among the most successful, most have felt the sting of miserable failures at one time or another. How did they react and move toward success? Focus on how they learned from the mistakes and moved onward and upward. How can you apply these lessons to your own life, career, and circumstances? Ponder this: do you accept defeat when something goes wrong or do you regroup and try again? How persistent are you?

You have to accept failures are part of the success experience. Mistakes often become the next great innovation. Vulcanized rubber was a mistake. Microwave oven technology was created by accident. Penicillin was the result of a failed experiment.

To be successful, you must reconcile with the possibility of failure. Being successful involves taking risks, and the possibility of failure, ridicule, disapproval, and disappointment. Be courageous. Everyone makes some mistakes. You may never figure out all the outcomes before you plunge into a project. So what? Do it anyway! If it fails, learn from it and try again!

Karen S. Sieczka is a training consultant and founder of Growing Great Ideas.com. Her latest training program is Growing Great Ideas: Unleashing Creativity at Work. The program generates ideas, enthusiasm, and teamwork and can be customized to address particular organizational issues or challenges. This article was excerpted from the Growing Great Ideas: Unleashing Creativity at Work book, now available at LULU.com for download or print version.

• 2 Comments

  

Comments

What a wonderful reminder that without failure, we will not be able to appreciate our successes!
Thanks for sharing!
Paula Y. Martin, Relationship Coach / Mediator
Martin Maximum Mediation, LLC

 Posted by: Paula Y. Martin at November 4, 2008 9:37 PM

This is a great mood elevator - and something that makes you stop and think. I was having what I refer to an oodge day and reading this
was the perfect thing to get me going again!

 Posted by: Moffat Welsh at November 7, 2008 5:34 PM

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