I am not afraid to fail. Not anymore.
I am a proud veteran of 20 years of military service. Early on in my military career, I not only feared failure, I wouldn’t tolerate it among my team members. I was so narrowly focused on creating success from any situation I was entrusted to handle that I became miserable to work with and live with. I added undue stress to myself and everyone around me. Subsequently, my team became afraid to tell me the whole story for fear of punishment.
Why do we punish ourselves and others for taking risks and failing? We tend to stick with what we know will work for the sake of security; we’ve grown very fond of the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with taking the comfortable and familiar road. We are taught by important people in our lives and influenced by popular media that failure isn’t an option. The fear of punishment or disappointing others drives our behaviors and attitudes, despite the fact that glorious failure and risk-taking are significant parts of our history as Americans.
I’m a huge proponent of the relentless pursuit of goals and visualizing success. But risk-takers and skilled failures built this country.
Our Founding Fathers, scientists, explorers and cultural leaders made a bevy of mistakes from the small to the life-changing. Failure takes courage. Whether by design, acquired wisdom or even just dumb luck, every failure was ultimately a significant learning moment, and our country is what it is today due to the many attempts, innovations, blood, sweat and tears.
When failure occurs, finger-pointing and punishment get in the way of improving performance. I would rather my team take educated, creative risks and fail than take no risks and miss a learning moment that could improve the overall process and complete the tasks and mission at hand.
My attitude changed when my first real professional mentor took me aside one day and imparted the wisdom of productive failure. What I first thought to just be an oxymoron fast became a personal mantra.
Several years later, when I led a large team of service members in Afghanistan, this methodology was put to the test. I made it clear to my people that I would back them 100 percent if they accepted an attitude of accountability that would improve performance and encourage creativity. While a combat zone is not the best venue for learning or failure, we not only surpassed our mandated goals, we established a new standard for excellence. And more important, we brought home every team member safe and sound. My takeaway from this: An empowered team is a powerful team and a supremely productive asset to any organization.
If you’re a manager and leader, encourage an atmosphere where failure is an acceptable part of the learning process. If you’re a parent, let your kids have the freedom to fail. When they do fail, have a discussion about what they learned and challenge them to succeed. It encourages creativity, fosters personal accountability and builds necessary problem-solving skills they’ll need to be productive citizens and lead our country in the years ahead.
Accountability is a mentality, just as failure is temporary and success is enduring and contagious. If you never accept risk as an option, accept accountability and learn from failure, you’ll never get the opportunity to build a real road map for continued success in your life.
Jeffrey Clapper is a decorated veteran, student and civil servant with the city of Dallas. He is also a Community Voices volunteer columnist. He can be reached at jeffrey.clapper.tx@gmail.com.
