Failure: the secret ingredient in entrepreneurial success
Americans are taught that failure is not an option. Heck, we’re taught that “second place is first loser.” CEO and co-founder of Blue Mountain Media Gabriel Shaoolian, writing for Open Forum, disagrees. He says that failure made him the leader he is today. Here is some of his reasoning:
Process makes perfect
I had no processes, defined roles or protocols in place. Every project was like starting from scratch. As my company grew, this caused huge problems. But this taught me how important it was to have every process in place and every role defined before embarking on a project.
Think twice before you hire
I made some terrible hires. When I was starting out, I didn’t know the right questions to ask or the right backgrounds for the positions I was filling. I was very lucky to make some great hires, but I had to let a lot of people go. Now, I don’t rely on what candidates tell me about their skills. I put them to the test. This has helped to weed out a lot of people I might have hired in the past.
Full story on Open Forum.
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I think failure is empowering not just as business person, but as a human being. When you fail, you learn. Mistakes are the keys to growing. Rarely are mistakes actually catastrophic, more often we make them out to be. In a strange way, don’t you think it’s also empowering for the employees that had to be let go? Technically, be firing is considered a failure, but sometimes people need that to learn, either to be better a better employee, or to start their own thing and be the boss. Do you agree?