Earlier this year, when I was in Chicago for the BMA Engage conference, I had the chance to meet up with the very wise Jeff Hill for a late-evening nightcap.

I said to Jeff, “You’ve got a ton of experience.  You do really complicated business.  You’re on your way to a Ph.D.  What’s the one, single, most important piece of advice you can give a headstrong 29 year old who’s trying to make his way in life?”

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Jeff answered, “Don’t ever be afraid to fail.”

On the walk back up Michigan Avenue to my hotel, Jeff’s words rang in my head.

It’s not the first time I’d heard that said, but what does it really mean?  Has “don’t be afraid to fail” simply become business jargon that makes us feel good and fill us with hope, or are there actions we can take to live up to this mantra?

I think so.  Here are some steps I’m trying to take, as I build Social Business Strategies and my personal brand.

5 Ways to Effectively Learn From Failure

• Make failure real
  By writing down our failures, we gain ownership of those actions.  Keeping a personal notebook or journal is a great idea.  Very brave individuals might even write about their failures on a personal blog and ask their base of readers for advice.  However you capture your own failures is fine, but be sure to make the the situation tangible so you can own it, learn from it and adjust your approach as needed.
• Change your paradigm
  We often get stuck blaming others for our failures.  Oftentimes, we fail others who were depending on us to deliver on expectations or promises.  The next time you fail, try looking at the situation from the lens of the other party involved.  What did that failed customer relationship look like from the unhappy customer’s side?  How did that ill-received email look from the inbox of the person who received it?  Do you get the drift?  Reframe the situation from their paradigm and examine the sequence of events that led up to failure.
• Isolate a variable
  When you’re looking back over the sequence of events that led to a time of failure, try to isolate specific actions that may have changed the final outcome.  Examining and keeping tabs on these specific actions will provide insight into how to change them to produce the results you’re going for next time around.
• Be tenacious as hell
  Never give up.  Never say die.  Failure is a positive experience that creates needs and actions related to improvement.  But all the analysis and deep thinking in the world is a waste of time if you don’t have the courage to try again.  There’s a reason why a large number of famous and successful entrepreneurs have gone bankrupt multiple times.  Being tenacious as hell is how they managed not to remain bankrupt for long.

How else do you learn from your failures?  Do you have any tips or tricks you can share in the comments?

Photo credit: Chris Onyx Reid

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