Failure and Success

At the back of Forbes Magazine, they used to have a page of quotes. It became quite well known, and the book compiling them all (Forbes Quotations on the Business of Life) sold quite well.

Malcom Forbes' quote always lead off: With all thy getting, get understanding.

Here's a quote that I think has similar reach and value: The opposite of avoiding failure is not the same thing as seeking success. Put differently, avoiding risk doesn't guarantee returns.

When you're young, you can probably get by by just avoiding failure. I surely felt that way as a young officer/professional. I was scared enough of failing I figured just avoiding it was enough. And I guess it was (but Mike reminded me recently that at that time I was "brash". Go figure.)

But look - if you get too good at avoiding failure, it becomes its own goal, a deadly chimera.

Learning how to avoid failure is a good skill. But it's not what powers the world. Seeking success is the engine of results. You can't be a force for good by avoiding failure.

Avoiding failure is the EASY path. Often, bosses and leaders will tell you what failure is. But if you're working on something new, or important, failure might be easy to describe, but success is hard to be clear about.

Learn the difference early.

Don't be so afraid of failure that you learn it so well that you become afraid of seeking success.

Meet-Ups

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Consider joining or scheduling a Manager Tools Meet-Up in your area. There are several active Manager Tools communities worldwide who meet regularly. You can use the Meet-Up section of the Forums to arrange your meeting. You can find it here.

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