Failure is Not a Dirty Word
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2010-12-07 11:43
“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail.” –Robert Schuler
The old cliché tells us that those who fail and try again prove they are truly passionate and dedicated to their work. Bootstrapping, passion—whatever you want to call it—is great, but there are a number of other qualities that failing also tell us that may not be so obvious.
Failure shows those interested in supporting your venture that you have the mental capacity and emotional bandwidth to handle the ups and downs that come with running a social enterprise. This business is not easy—particularly when a large part of your value system is to address a social problem. It's emotionally taxing, mentally draining, and when a social problem is at stake, perhaps a part of your heartstrings are too.
Failure also tells us that you are willing to take what you have learned and apply it—hopefully. It demands growth, mentally and emotionally and it forces you to examine the details, all of your decisions, and missteps. Ideally, it requires you to take a big picture view of your roadmap and start again.
No one can really tell you when you have failed, just like no one can tell you when it's the right time to quit your job and pursue your enterprise full-time. Your bottom-line, of course, is the obvious indicator, but perhaps ineffective social impact, or not scaling at a rate that you envisioned, should also be indicators.
Many investors want to know if you have failed. In fact, it's almost at the top of the list. From the entrepreneur's point of view—“Seriously, you want me to fail?” and “It's not my fault I haven't failed—why are you holding that against me!” or “What exactly constitutes a failure? Do you want me to crash and burn? Or is it just a blip in the road?”
It's really not any of these. Funders, grantors, investors do not want to see you fail—frankly, they look bad when you do. Nor do they measure failure on some sort of scale. They want to know, when it's gut-check time and you're at the bottom of the pool if you’ll have the mental wherewithal, and the fortitude, the hutzpah, the gumption to make a course-correction and push on. Funders are taking a bet on you, but they want to make sure they’re making a good one—and this gamble isn't just about the bottom-line, a lot of it's about you.
In her commencement speech to Harvard's graduating class of 2008, J.K. Rowling spoke of the fringe benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. Failure teaches you things that success cannot—it shows you how strong you really are and requires a stripping away of the inessential.
She says, “the knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”
Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, gave the commencement speech at Walden University's 2010 graduation this past May. She, too, focused on failure as the theme of her advice for these students who were just going to step into the world. She noted three key points that she wanted the graduates to walk away with:
1. You are enough. Embrace your unique gifts and talents.
2. Failure is not a dirty word. It must be a socially acceptable outcome.
3. Failure is ultimately nothing more than a state of mind.
The fear of failure is always lurking in the background. The status quo presents it to us as a necklace of shame. But without the possibility of failure, there is no chance for breakthrough innovation; for that systems changing idea to come into being. Rather, shine a light on failure. Talk about it. Embrace it and learn from it and look for the solutions in it.
We are prepared to solve the issues of today. Let’s pull the tag off the mattress and stop those menacing, invisible shadows of failure from preventing us from taking that bold leap.
