If you go to almost any personal development or business seminar, the presenters will share stories of failure leading to triumph.
They are saying, “I’m not perfect, but I mastered this, so you can too.”
I’ve never been to a seminar where someone said, “Here’s a current challenge that I’m facing right now, here’s what I’m doing about it, we’re still in the process and we’ll see what plays out.”
The other day I shared with the participants in Board a major set of challenges in a business that I own (not my core business). I’ve been working through the challenges and implementing changes, but the last one (which I do believe we will go a long way to overcoming) hasn’t been fully executed yet, so many challenges remain.
I could have sorted the problems quicker had I stepped in as the day-to-day leader, but instead I’ve focussed on putting in place a leader to lead through this change. Otherwise the immediate problem would be fixed, but the long-term problem would remain.
As an entrepreneur I think leverage, not just fixes.
“Do you think you should have shared that? Someone said to me after. “It might harm your personal brand.”
I can see where they’re coming from, as most people’s personal brand is built on sharing only successful outcomes.
Personally, I look at outcomes as the results of inputs. Sometimes you get the inputs wrong and they need to change, that’s OK. Success isn’t never being wrong, it is identifying when you are wrong and then making appropriate changes.
Being an entrepreneur is a tough road. It’s a meaningful and fulfilling road, but it’s tough. If, as an entrepreneur, your personal image of yourself must be crafted on only winning and never losing, then you’ve just made the road even tougher.
Babe Ruth, who I’m sure you’ve heard of, had a batting average of 0.3421. That means that he struck out about seven times out of ten.
It’s OK to strike out, but you miss all the shots you never take.