Snuggle Up with Failure

We are not OK with failure. I’ve never seen a CEO’s bio proclaiming the projects that went belly up. I won’t log onto your website today and hear about your underperforming men’s ministries or how last weekend’s services were completely average. I often tease a pastor friend of mine that I’ve never seen a Tweet that doesn’t describe every event at his church as “AMAZING!!!”  

I’m guilty too. I refuse to talk about HighSchoolPayback.com which ranks as my worst idea for a project…EVER! Enough said.

But I truly believe if we want to cultivate life-changing innovation we need to strike a more balanced perspective on success and failure. Otherwise this distortion will drown out the dreams of our dreamers, choke out creativity, and handcuff our innovators.

So here are a few suggestions:

CELEBRATE ALL VALUE CREATION
Everybody wants to start a movement these days. And frankly, that bothers me. Size has become the unfortunate benchmark for value creation. I like the concept of “Go Big or Go Home” but not everybody has to be as wildly successful as TWLOHA, charity:water, or LifeChurch.TV. 

Our definition of value has been hijacked by speed of growth, prominence, and attention. But it is critical for all of us to understand that the true worth of an idea isn’t determined by whether our efforts are showcased in the New York Times or if we have 500,000 Facebook Fans. These things are certainly helpful, but ultimately can be misleading and a bad reference point for value.

Value creation happens when someone is impacted for the good, lives are changed, people are transformed, and hearts are healed.

As leaders we need to celebrate and highlight the things that are simple yet truly profound. Too often we overlook the killer project happening right in front of us because it’s just not sexy enough.

And for all you innovators, focus on building something that works well locally and then deal with the larger movement when it’s kicking down your door. Until then serve faithfully knowing you’re making a difference.

DON’T BE SO DANG SERIOUS
I realize our work is important and the stakes are high. But holy cow do we need a good dose of perspective sometimes. I’ve seen heads roll over the misspelling of a word in the weekly bulletin, a poor choice of paint color for the lobby, or lack luster attendance at the youth miniature golf event.

For some leaders, a chill pill may be just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes our obsession with excellence has sucked the life right out of our team. If you have no room for error, then you have no room for dreams.

I guarantee if you and your staff are having a good time, then you have created an environment for new ideas to be birthed. But if laughter doesn’t fill your office hallways, my guess is you’ve got an innovation problem.

DON’T DISS YOUR DISASTERS
Before Apple sold 2 million Ipads in just 2 months, they first had to fail at the Newton. The Newton was the first tablet platform that Apple developed that the public rejected. Though the device never really caught on, it certainly can be seen as a pre-cursor to the smashing success of the Ipad and a legitimate part of that story. 

Too often we want to pretend that failed ventures never happened. We erase them from the history books. We frown upon the people that even dare to bring those events up. But what is even worse is that we pretend our failures have no impact or relevancy on what is working well today.

Listen, don’t diss your disasters. Show them a little respect. As a leader, having transparent dialogue of struggle, failure, and the honesty of your checkered past will only sweeten the experience when success finally comes your way.

13 Comments »

1. don’t DISS your disasters! Excellent perspective, oh how we need to LIGHTEN UP on ourselves! Its NOT about peformance.. its about flowing during the journey. Religion is about perfection and performance… relationship is about BEING and being accepted just as we are for who we are just where we are!

   Comment by jule - Jun 21, 2010 @ 11:40 AM

2. “I’ve missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan

   That was posted by my cousin this weekend and it seems to be a popular theme at least in my FB circles, trending you could say, like everyone starting a movement these days.  I beleive that a lot of this stems from the dot.com culture and the subsuquent democratization of information and access to it.  Waning are the days of the industrial gate-keepers who can crush a movement wth a flick of their finger the moment it becomes a threat (think Tucker vs. Big Three & US SEC).  Speaking as one of those people who wants to start a movement, I think it comes down to your authenticity as to why you want (or are called) to create a movement.  I trust that if God wants the movement I’m part of to be as wildly successful as TWLOHA, charity:water, or LifeChurch.TV and we remain humble, it will be.  Our means should justify the ends, not the other way around; which in considering your emphasis on value creation, I think we’re in full agreement.

   I don’t think that maintaining humility and a sense of tranquility about how big/small of a movement, startup etc. you are is mutually exclusive having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (“BHAG”).  According to its coiners, James Collins and Jerry Porras (Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t etc.) a BHAG is “...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future” which “serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.”

   I absolutely agree with what you said “[a]nd for all you innovators, focus on building something that works well locally and then deal with the larger movement when it’s kicking down your door. Until then serve faithfully knowing you’re making a difference.”  No matter how big you get, I think you ignore that advice at your own peril.

   Comment by Chris Wiseman - Jun 21, 2010 @ 12:14 PM

3. Our failures and disasters make us who we are today. A humble man is a broken man, and a broken man is someone who knows the love of God. Our failures and mistakes mold us into the leaders we are today. If you can’t admit your failures, how do you expect to praise your victories?

   Comment by Jarrid Wilson - Jun 21, 2010 @ 04:11 PM

4. thanks guys for your comments. totally agree with what you guys are saying! great stuff! peace..mike.

   Comment by mike foster - Jun 21, 2010 @ 04:39 PM

5. I love this post! Thank you! Failures, when addressed openly, encourage people. When people see failures alongside hope and heart, there is a realization that perfection is not what warrants success. I hang onto this thought everyday…

   Comment by Dawn Bryant (@simplydawnb) - Jun 22, 2010 @ 03:15 AM

6. Thanks for this interesting article.

   Sometimes, it seems we don’t acknowledge that God isn’t really all that concerned with making our programs work or whether an event was well attended, so much as he is concerned with being known and knowing us.

   This can have the consequence that our plans don’t succeed because God has something different in mind. Maybe we’d discover what the ‘something’ is, when we ‘fess up to failure and look at it together to perceive what God might have been doing, when we weren’t looking.

   Comment by Ian - Jun 23, 2010 @ 02:43 AM

7. Some of these comments make me think of Job!  What a failure (to everyone but God)  @ Ian “...‘fess up to failure and look at it together to perceive what God might have been doing, when we weren’t looking.” Totally nailed it. That’s exactly what God was doing while everyone was looking at Job rather than at God.

   Comment by Christopher Wiseman - Jun 23, 2010 @ 03:47 PM

8. Great article! Really encouraging and just plain fun to read!! Thanks for the insights.

   Comment by Dave Hess - Jul 15, 2010 @ 04:55 AM

9. Good stuff. I have a friend who says that we should “celebrate failure”. That really resonates with me, as does your last point. Failure (and disaster) is something we try to regulate and hide, and that’s why we often don’t have any shining successes (because we don’t have any glaring failures). I for one and tired of the middle road.

   Comment by Jeff Goins - Jul 15, 2010 @ 05:55 AM

10. Leading a formerly innovative church past it former success and failures in what has become a multi ethnic ommunity is my current innovative field.  Sometimes our successes are more dangerous than our failures becuase they can tend to kill the next generation of necesary innovation, as we lament not being ‘on top’ any more.  I’ve failed and innovated, and failed again.  Celebrated attempts but I miss the days when someone else had written the book I could read to figure out what the next steps are.  Blessings to all you in the multi cultural world, I am blessed to shre ministry with 23 languages in our english speaking service and the list of my failures would be longer than the successes I promise.

    Jim Conner
    Arcadia Presbyterian Church

    Comment by Jim Conner - Jul 15, 2010 @ 10:57 AM

11. great comments guys! @jim i love what you said on the concept of our successes can be just as damaging…especially to future generations…and the lamenting of not being on top…great thot!

    appreciate all of you!

    peace…m.

    Comment by mike foster - Jul 15, 2010 @ 02:00 PM

12. It is without a doubt amazing to think about all we accomplish in each day, success and failure As we mature we begin to understand just how much these successes and failures have influenced our lives and helped to make us who we are today.  Without both of these we cannot become balanced leaders, or followers of Christ. 

    Henry Ford had more than two dozen failed attempts at building his first successful drivable automobile, and when was finally successful, he had to take his garage apart around it to bring it to the world.  What if he had stopped?  Just some food for thought.

    Thank you Mike for the great article and awesome truth.

    Patt Lott

    Comment by Patrick Lott - Jul 27, 2010 @ 06:06 PM

13. She is very defensive and retreats back under the bed but last night they fought in the bathroom and he came out limping. I feel bad for him now but he watches her every move. I rubbed his leg and it seems fine.

    HID Conversion

    Comment by HID Conversion - Aug 08, 2010 @ 09:46 PM

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