When author J. K. Rowling addressed the graduating class at Harvard last June, she didn’t focus on success. Instead, she spoke about failure. She related a story about a young woman who gave up her dream of writing novels to study something more practical. Nonetheless, she ended up as an unemployed single mom “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.” But during this rock-bottom time, she realized she still had a wonderful daughter, an old typewriter, and an idea that would become the foundation for rebuilding her life. Perhaps you’ve heard of Harry Potter?
“You might never fail on the scale I did,” Rowling told that privileged audience. “But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case, you fail by default. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.” (Excerpt from “The Bounce Back Chronicles” by Joe Kita, as printed in the May 2009 Reader’s Digest)
Over the years the definition of success we cited in the introduction has changed. We at Hanamura Consulting now define success to mean “moving steadily toward your goal day by day.” This implies that success is a verb, a journey in route to a destination or vision. But before you can embark on a journey you need to set goals in place to guide you. Not only are goals an important part of the journey, but you will need to equip yourself with a foundational education, necessary skills, and a support system that will give words of encouragement along the way. Most importantly, know that failure will be a part of the process.
Failure happens to all of us whether as a result of our own choices or due to circumstances beyond our control. The question is how do some people rebound with lessons learned, while others merely wallow in the morass of it all? Truthfully, some failures can be averted if we are properly equipped. What’s important to understand is the implications of failure and how it impacts success.
Former NBA player Dennis Rodman never thought he would miss when he shot at the basketball hoop. But no one, not even the superstars are 100% accurate. The key factor for Rodman was his expectations – if you expect success you are more likely to achieve it. But failure should be viewed as a learning tool to improve skills and realign goals. In Rodman’s case, making the basket was only one of the skill sets required. He also needed knowledge of the sport, knowledge of the strength and weaknesses of his teammates, awareness of the other teams’ abilities and the willingness to follow directions from the coach.
Very early in my life I thought of myself as a failure regardless of how hard I worked. This was due in part to messages I received early in life that I was a second class citizen. The attribution theory kicks in here. An attribution is that phenomena where someone’s opinion of you is based on a group or groups you come from (i.e. blind people are helpless and unable to work; Japanese people are not leadership material). Although I come from a strong, supportive family, had a good education and basic skill sets I experienced a clash between the two sets of messages.
I felt like a failure in part because I was comparing myself with what I perceived others to do and be. Trying to be someone else is a great waste of time and energy. Certainly we can learn from others’ experiences but only as they apply to me, not you. We also sabotage our own success when we fear repeated rejection or even fear success itself.
In order to see success in the workplace we need to develop an environment that allows for creativity; there needs to be willingness for people to redirect themselves and to acquire needed skill sets that will maximize the possibility of success.
Joe Torre, a major league baseball manager was addressing a group of fortune 1000 leaders three days after his New York Yankees lost the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. He shared with his audiences seven leadership principles that I feel set up a successful workplace:
Surround yourself with good people
Tell the truth
Failure is part of the process
Find the positives in failure
Recognize effort by everyone on the team
Play it one game at a time
If you got out of bed and made it through the day you’ve been successful
In a world where we are all striving to get better at what we do, we must be careful not to dwell on our failures, but at the same time examine the lessons learned from those experiences. Even when we see the world as going well for us, be mindful of how the same experience might be perceived differently for others. Stay in the dialog about each other’s respective perceptions and experiences before moving on.
Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.
He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com
