Failure Archive - The Art of Communicating

If failure was an option …

… what would you do differently?

Let’s say in the way you lead your team? Which conversation did you avoid because you were afraid of the consequences?

Or in the way you develop your product? Which feature did you dismiss because you were afraid that it’s not going to work?

How about the way you create? Which thought did you push back because you were afraid of what it would spark?

We’re so used to acting as if failure wasn’t an option that we often shy away from even thinking about the options that could fail.

But time and again when working with my clients, it’s these thoughts that open up new paths. Even if they later decide to avoid the risk, the experience of thinking things through without caring about failing created thoughts that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.

So, if failure was an option, what would you dare to do today?

Will you?

Error without consequence

“The essence of training is to allow error without consequence.”
Ender’s Game

The great thing about training is the safe environment.

It’s like taking a risk but without the actual risk. You can try out ideas and approaches that you would never have tried out for real. Or it can lead you to find yet another path that does work but would have been impossible to see without taking the risky route first.

But the one thing that you won’t get in training is tension. The tension of that it matters now. The tension that this is the moment and you absolutely have to give it your all. Which might be way beyond everything that you did in training. Simply because in training, you didn’t have to.

And also the tension that errors actually do have consequences at times.

That is an experience that no amount of training can give you. You can gather a vast range of experiences, you can get ever closer to the real thing. But eventually, you’ll have to go out there. And face the consequences.

It’s better to be well-prepared when you do. But it’s also essential that you don’t hide from it.

Second impressions

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

You don’t. But more often than not you still get a chance to make a second impression.

I mean, shit happens. As much as we try to avoid it, things go wrong. We’ve all been there.

But contrary to what the catchy wisdom suggests, it’s not over when you haven’t made a stellar first impression. Just deal with it. Continue giving it your all.

Some of my longest running relationships have grown out of first impressions gone wrong.

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If failure was an option …

Error without consequence

Second impressions

Spread the Word

Dr. Michael Gerharz