Top 10 Lessons Learned from Failure (Part 1 of 2)

In order to succeed, you need to know how to fail

An article in the December-January 2013 issue of Worth magazine (a go-to resource for our company) caught our eye and we wanted to summarize for you.  The 10 lessons they capture were adapted from The Wisdom of Failure:  How to Learn the Tough Leadership Lessons Without Paying the Price from a seven year study of 1,000 managers and executives across 21 industries.  These are powerful tips that we wanted to share that can help you both in your career and in your personal life.

Disclaimer: no copyright infringement intended.

1.  Avoid the Seduction of Yes
The universal "yes" takes three forms: an inability to decline new opportunities, a refusal to admit failure, and attempting to be all things to all people.  All three destroy careers and companies by leading to the overcommitting of resources, cash and talent.

Take MySpace:  In a misguided attempt to get hip, News Corp. purchased the floundering company for $580 million in 2005, and spend years (and millions more) trying to reinvent the website to compete with Facebook.  It was a disastrous move: News Corp. sold MySpace in 2011 for $35 million.

The firm could have saved itself huge amounts of time and money if it had been able to admit defeat before six years had passed.

2.  Don't Think Outside the Box
It's practically the most tiresome cliche' in business--"think outside the box"--and it may also be the most misguided.  The number one cause of business derailment is thinking "outside the box"--and ending up in business where you don't belong.

Don't pursue new ideas for the sake of pursuing new ideas.  Rather, be very aware of the business you're in and the value proposition you and your company offer.  You can still think creatively within you own business environment.

3.  Effectiveness Matters More Than Efficiency
Ideally, you want to be both effective and efficient, but many leaders fall into the following traps:  being efficient at the expense of being effective, or being efficient at the wrong thing.  That's what killed Pets.com in 268 days.

Only when you know you're doing the right thing can you move on to doing things right.

4.  Don't be the Workplace Bully
This advice might seem obvious, but bullying at the office often occurs when money and egos are at stake.  Look at David Sokol, who, in March 2011, went form the heir apparent at Berkshire Hathaway to unemployed amidst revelation of some shady stock purchases.

After Sokol resigned, reports circulated of Sokol's brass-knuckled office style, including a monthly ranking of his aides in the order he would fire them and his suggestion that the company fire all employees in poor health or going through a divorce.

Take a lesson from Warren Buffett and cut out toxic employees.

5.  But Don't Be the Pleaser Boss Either
The pleaser boss wants everyone to work in harmony, and as a result, has an excessive fear of conflict. Of course, destructive conflict should be avoided--but leaders must be careful not to swing too far in the opposite direction lest they snuff out creativity and individual initiative.

Brenda McManigle of the Center for Creative Leadership stated, "Conflict can lead to better decision making, expose key issues, stimulate critical thinking and fuel innovation."

Take these five lessons into consideration when you are strategizing how you want to execute your personal goals and vision as a leader.

Que Fagan
Blogger in Chief
The Supa Group
www.thesupagroup.com

Don't Make Resolutions: Laws of Success (Part 1 of 4)

It is proven that 90% of people who make New Year's resolutions lose steam by week 2 in January and all of a sudden, they have settled back into their old habits and face another year of not living a life on purpose and confused about how to effectively reach their goals.

We have had the opportunity to speak to, observe and follow many great leaders (religious, business, non-profit, for profit, etc.) and they all seem to do, in various forms, the same activities that were laid out as principles in Napoleon Hill's "Law of Success".

We have found the Law of Success principles to be a great system for success that anyone can incorporate into their lives for not short-term goals (like resolutions) but building systemic habits and activities that leads to overall life happiness (long term, contented and grounded happiness).  Although the principles aren't "fancy", they are effective and works for anyone willing to put forth effort and establish a commitment to incorporate them into their lives.

Section 1: Principles of Self Mastery

Lesson One:  Introduction of the Master Mind

Depending on where and what you have read, this principle crosses various disciplines, religions and psychological instruction.  No person who has ever achieved their goals did it alone.  But more importantly in what Mr. Hill points out is that your support system for any given goal has to be people who you know are in whole-hearted agreeance with you accomplishing the goal.

For example, this principle doesn't work if your master mind group is made up of people who don't really believe in you. Someone can be a friend but not able to fully support you in your pursuit of a certain kind of goal.  Build a master mind (even if it's only one other person) group and be able to clearly understand which mastermind supports each of your major goals.


Lesson Two:  A Definite Chief Aim

You can never be (or feel) successful without having an intended goal in mind.

These days it's not unusual for people to have multiple interests with what can also seem like scattered activities.  For people who are ineffective, that's true.  But what separates successful people from unsuccessful people are successful people always have an established aim and purpose to every activity they are involved in.  For example, a person may belong to four organizations who have diverse objectives but if they know that each organizational membership allows them to continue to expand their network of, say, commercial real estate contacts, they are following through to a definite chief aim.


Lesson Three:  Self-Confidence

We all have moments when we are not feeling or being our most confident but success can't be achieved without a healthy dose of confidence and optimism in your abilities.  Mr. Hill specifically noted that fear is the chief reason people are not able to develop healthy self conficence.

The Six Basic Fears of Mankind:

• Fear of Poverty:  Stemming from indifference, indecision, doubt, worrying, over-caution and procrastination
• Fear of Old Age:  Stemming from a fear of lost health, independence and death
• Fear of Criticism:  Stemming from our desire to be liked and getting our self-esteeem from others
• Fear of Loss of Love: Stemming from our desire to be loved and our fear of the negative impact of our vulnerability
• Fear of Ill Health:  Stemming from and associated with poverty and old age
• Fear of Death:  Stemming from the fear of the unknown and departing from our loved ones

Until a person begins to deal with their greatest fear, self-confidence will not be able to be rooted and sustained in a way that undergirds success.

Lesson Four:  The Habit of Saving

Even though we could repeat what you have heard before about saving, what we want to specifically call out is how this habit is more about discipline and self-imposed restrictions in order to accomplish a goal(s).  This takes focus and building upon the self-confidence that Mr. Hill discusses in Lesson 3.

Mr. Hill also points out how debt is a merciless master and a fatal enemy of the savings habit.  No one can do their best work, no one can find self-expression in terms that command respect, no one can either create or carry out a definite purpose in life, with heavy debt hanging over his or her head (Note: many people have overcome insurmountable odds, including debt, to go on to be great people and it all started with them including a plan for debt eradication).  Make a plan of intention to deal with your debt to create a platform in which you are able to fully express who you are and how you can make an impact on this world by being able to save the maximum amount you can to support your goals.

We hope you will repeatedly read over these four lessons and take action on incorporating them into your life.  

Stay tuned for our next section post that will discuss Principles of Personal Power.

Quenita Fagan

President/CEO

The Supernova Advisory Group (The Supa Group)

www.thesupagroup.com