{"id":255,"date":"2013-09-26T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T10:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/hult-labs\/2013\/september\/the-best-way-to-deal-with-failure\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:10:41","slug":"the-best-way-to-deal-with-failure-fail-repeatedly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/the-best-way-to-deal-with-failure-fail-repeatedly\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Way to Deal With Failure? Fail (Repeatedly)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine you experienced a failure at work. The memory of it plagues you, and you just can\u2019t shake it. You visit a doctor to explain your condition, and she\u00a0administers a shot<\/a>, prescribing a nap to immediately follow it. You steal away for a quick snooze, and when you wake up the memory is gone\u2014forever. Sound like a scene out of science fiction? How about one in the not-too-distant future?<\/p>\n

There is no question that an incident involving failure\u2014either small or spectacular\u2014can lodge into your memory bank like a heavy stone. But moments of failure (OK, sometimes they feel like decades) can teach us a lot about ourselves, and what to do differently the next time. There\u2019s a lot we can learn if we don\u2019t try to stuff failure into a drawer right after it happens, or hide it away in a closet to keep company with the cobwebs and holiday decorations. Resist that temptation to throw it away, because it\u2019s an opportunity to become smarter.<\/p>\n

But as we all know, it can be hard to embrace failure when it\u2019s staring us in the face. Most of us have been conditioned from a very early age to achieve, to win, and to get all the answers right. To appear wrong is to appear weak, or so we\u2019re told. And that \u201cpain\u201d you\u2019re feeling? Most likely: bruised pride. Many times it\u2019s this pride that keeps us from leveraging the pearls that lie just below the surface of a perceived failure.<\/p>\n

Although many of us strive with all our might to avoid failure (a truly impossible feat), we do so at a cost. We may find that our ability to bounce back has atrophied. And just like there\u2019s no crying in baseball, there\u2019s also no moping (for too long) in business after experiencing a setback\u2014although there should be plenty of reflection to let all the lessons bubble up into your conscious memory. To succeed as a professional, you need resiliency just as much as you need traits like ambition, skill, and creativity. Because here\u2019s something you can always count on: failure is inevitable. And until there\u2019s a vaccination to ward against it, the best remedy is the ability to roll with life\u2019s unavoidable punches.<\/p>\n

So how about rethinking what failure means? Dyan Williams, in her article \u201cChange Your Definition of Failure: It\u2019s How You Get Better<\/a>\u201d has some sage words: \u201cA failure that results from well-designed and well-intentioned experimentation can be worthy of praise. And regardless of whether failure offers any real value, it\u2019s a common occurrence in our uncertain environment and a natural part of human existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s your goal to be a leader of a team, division, or company, you have to have experienced setbacks in order to know how to lead your team through them. Think of the first time you spoke or presented in front of a large group of people. It was probably terrifying. But what happened after the third time, the fifth time\u2014the tenth time? It probably got a bit easier, even if the terror never fully went away. You developed the skills to deal with the unease, alongside the ability to address an audience and keep its attention.<\/p>\n

In the article \u201cWhy Failure is Good for Leaders<\/a>,\u201d Dorie Clark quotes author, Annemarie Neal, as saying: \u201cIf you haven\u2019t learned [to fail], when it gets to the big game, you\u2019ll never have the resources to get over the hurdle.\u201d Wrote Clark: \u201cYou need executives with the courage to move forward anyway and be willing to fail faster and smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

So before you hold out your hopes that scientists come up with an easily accessible means toinoculate against bad memories<\/a>\u00a0that keep you awake at night, keep in mind that those memories can be good reminders of the times you cut corners to get something done, chose not to delegate, or failed to listen. Those memories can serve as reminders to nudge you into make different choices\u2014and those just might lead to a rosier path.<\/p>\n

Also keep this in mind: when\u00a0Akita Morita co-founded Sony<\/a>, the company\u2019s introductory product was a rice cooker\u2014that consistently burned the rice in it. And there\u2019s\u00a0Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken<\/a>\u00a0fame, whose chicken recipe was turned down approximately 1,000 times. He finally met his goal of opening his famous fast food business at the age of 65. And here\u2019s a final story:\u00a0Walt Disney was once fired<\/a>\u00a0because \u201che lacked imagination and had no original ideas.\u201d In November of 2012, at the end of its fiscal year, the Walt Disney Company\u00a0reported a record $42.3 million dollars in revenue<\/a>, up 3% from the previous year. These business pioneers knew failure\u2014and succeeded despite of it. Maybe even because of it.<\/p>\n

\"Hult<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of\u00a0StockMonkeys.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hult offers a range of highly skills-focused and employability-driven business school programs<\/a> including a range of MBA options and a comprehensive one year Masters in International Business<\/a>. To find out more, take a look at our blog Top 5 failure quotes: Who\u2019s ready to fail in 2019?<\/a> Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to learn about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine you experienced a failure at work. The memory of it plagues you, and you just can\u2019t shake it. You visit a doctor to explain your condition, and she\u00a0administers a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[206],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best Way to Deal With Failure? Fail (Repeatedly) | Hult International Business School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imagine you experienced a failure at work. The memory of it plagues you, and you just can\u2019t shake it. 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