Top 10 Lessons Learned from Failure (Part 2 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.

(See Prior Post for Part 1 with #1-5)

6.  Competition Can Destroy Your Company

Competition, amongst employees or whole departments, can easily backfire.  When Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a developer and provider of seed corn products, discovered biotech methods (creating seeds in a lab as opposed to a field), the company decided to incorporate both techniques.  But after collaboration between the two divisions failed miserably, the firm pitted farmers against scientists to see who came out on top.  The result?  The internal competition tore the company apart, forcing Pioneer to lay off 25 percent of its employees and ultimately be rescued by DuPont.

7.  Don't Be a Power Hog

Micromanagement and hoarding responsibility are two common characteristics of ineffective leaders.  A survey of managers showed nearly 45 percent of managers admitted to both.  The effects are significant: on the leader (getting fired), the employees (stunting growth) and the company (losing employees).  Mattel's Jill Barad, for example, went from the first female CEO of the Fortune 500 company in 1997 to out of a job in 2000 in part because of her obsessive and controlling management style.  You'll do better by trusting and respecting your employees to handle delegated tasks.

8.  Stay Engaged or Get Out

Disengaged leaders are characterized by an insular and aloof attitude.  It's not just that they no longer have their finger on the pulse of the company.  Jared Heyman, for example, launched a marketing firm Infosurv in 1998 at 20 and by 32 was burned out.  He left the company to a manager and began to travel the world.  Employees hardly noticed Heyman's absence because he had always worked behind a closed door.

Be the type of boss who can really impact employees by making sure you are engaged in your own work and interacting with your staff.

9.  Check Your Ego

There's a running joke in Silicon Valley:  What's the difference between God and Larry Ellison?  God doesn't think he's Larry Ellison.  According to 70 percent of the execs we talked to, self-absorption is the most damning mistake a leader can make.  Why?  A self-absorbed leader defines success based on personal achievements.  A great leader defines success based on his team's achievements.


10.  Balance is the Key Ingredient

The ability to maintain balance between the lessons learned from your success and the lessons learned from your failure gives you the wisdom to prosper as a leader.  Knowing what to do must always be balanced with knowing what not to do, and personal experiences should be considered alsongside the experience of those around you.  "The ability to recognize and learn from one's own mistakes is the first step," Gerry Shaheen, a board member at Ford, says.  "But the ability to learn from other's mistakes is genius."

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