All of Your Heroes Have Failed
In 1915, after being forced to resign as First Lord of the Admiralty following a disastrous campaign that resulted in a catastrophic loss of lives, Churchill wrote to a friend.
“I am finished.”
Churchill believed, like many others at the time, that his career was over.
Oprah Winfrey was sacked from her first TV job as a news anchor after being told she was “unfit for television”.
Sam Altman says that his first company Loopt “was a failure.”
Florence Nightingale was (unfairly) seen as a failure during the Crimean War. Death rates soared under her watch, and critics accused her of making things worse. Later, she used the experience to revolutionise hospital design and public health.
You would struggle to find any great leader in history that hasn’t experienced failure – failures that shook the very roots of their conviction and self-belief.
However, the truth is, if you’re attempting to do something meaningful, you’re going to fail at some point. In fact, failing should be seen as a sign of progress. Failure is an inevitability on the path to success.
Failure Is a Feature, Not a Flaw
It’s estimated that when you were a toddler and first started learning to walk, you fell around twenty times per hour. Imagine if you saw this as your inability to walk and decided to quit? Your parents likely clapped and celebrated every fall as much as every steady step. That’s because in the process of trying something new or hard there are going to be mistakes. And these mistakes are just as essential for growth as the moments you get right.
How Great Organisations Normalise Mistakes
Some of the biggest companies in the world celebrate failure as part of their policies. Intuit have a “Best Failure” award and even throw “failure parties”. The Tata Group promote intelligent failure by celebrating with their “Dare to Try” award. IKEA issues “Banana cards” that give people freedom to fail and learn. Spotify runs “fail-fikas” in which teams share mistakes and learnings openly with each other. They’ve recognised that punishing mistakes creates fear. Encouraging them promotes progress.
When Drive Turns Against You
Often high ambition goes hand in hand with being hard on ourselves. The drive that got you where you are can also manifest as a hyper-critical internal voice. Over time you might begin to lose the sense of play that promotes creativity and experimentation. Innovation requires failure.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison
That drive can harden into perfectionism, self-criticism and self-sabotage. A common feeling is never being good enough. It’s astonishing how many incredibly successful people experience ‘imposter syndrome’ – a belief that they don’t deserve to be in their current position and will soon be ‘found out’.
One report suggests that 70% of C-suite executives have experienced this at some point in their careers. If you ever catch yourself thinking you’re not intelligent, capable or creative despite your high achievement then you’ve been here too.
“I feel like an imposter often. That’s because my best work involves doing things I’ve never done before.”
Seth Godin
“You think, ‘Why would anyone want to see me again in a movie? … So why am I doing this?’”
Meryl Streep
If you harbour this form of self-doubt then you may interpret failure as evidence supporting the self-narrative that you’re not good enough. Instead of seeing it as progress, it becomes judgement and condemnation.
How to Change Your Approach To Failure
1 – Reframe
Failure isn’t a flaw in your progress; it’s part of it. Every skill, habit, or mindset that improves does so through friction and feedback.
Ask: What if this is proof I’m growing, not failing?
2 – Reflect
Don’t grade the result. Instead, review the method. Every setback shows where your approach can evolve.
Ask: What elements performed well, and what needs adjusting next time?
3 – Integrate
Plan for failure instead of pretending it won’t happen. Expect friction, name it, and build simple if–then responses so you know your next move before it’s needed.
Ask: If this goes wrong, then what’s my next move?
As the saying goes – you either get the outcome you wanted or the lesson that you needed. Either one is a win on your road to success. may interpret failure as evidence supporting the self-narrative that you’re not good enough. Instead of seeing it as progress, it becomes judgement and condemnation.
Like this?
Get practical performance tools and insights straight to your inbox.
