Two: How business failure paves the way to success

The opening chapter looked at failure and its reasons or causes from a business standpoint. Again here in this chapter, we look at failure froma business standpoint, but what it can help do in paving way for success. Then, we will begin looking at failure in terms of Scripture and how it can be applied to our walk and life. In the following statements, look closely at the points made, and with them do an examination of your walk in Christ. You will find an interesting insight into how failure can pave a way of success. Much of the following information was found through research, and is very vital to know.

Jeff Wuorio is a veteran freelance writer and author based in southern Maine. He writes about small-business management, marketing and technology issues. If business success is a set of Cliffs Notes, business failure is a lifelong mentor. That understandably is hard to digest. Success is a rush. Failure, be it a minor snafu or big-time disaster, can wound in any number of ways, both practical and emotional. But failure offers insight. It's an opportunity to identify what went wrong and highlight greater issues that we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
Here are seven ways that business failure can be the best teacher you'll ever have.

1. Failure is necessary.

Sure, and so are five-day blizzards, Brussels sprout casseroles, and inboxes chock-full of spam. But failure, in fact, does occupy a central dynamic in business. Lacking a willingness to fail, many innovations may have merely been erased on the chalkboard of the abstract. "I think the whole concept of success and failure needs to be re-thought," says Richard Farson, author of "Whoever Makes The Most Mistakes Wins." "We're such a success-oriented culture, but I think what we need is more failure. Improvements only happen when you try things differently."

***In this is opportunities to learn and grow. Looking back at what happened and learning what not to do to repeat is growth. I also believe that in this, we have a challenge to work harder at what we do, to perfect what we do, through these times of trials. Character comes forth in this. Sometimes when someone has good character, they may be called an "Oak Tree." I belive the reason here is that they have had a few failings, but from those failings there was growth, with that growth, a stronger foundation.

2. Failure reinforces the need for risk.

This is akin to climbing back on the horse just after Mr. Ed flipped you like an old poker chip. Granted, it requires a gut check, but failing in any sort of business capacity can, in fact, jog your memory that risk is everywhere — and needs to be. "Business needs risk taking to foster innovation and creativity," Farson says. "And risk always involves a degree of failure."

***Here I think of a rodeo bronc rider, he gets on the horse, the shoot opens and out he comes with the horse, spinning fast and furious. Maybe he is on a bull riding and getting bucked hard. He is doing all he can to get the best time possible. But in this, he is flipped off the back of the horse or bull. Now, is the time to spring back up on his feet, he can not just simply lay there. He must get up and "do it again." He must "refuse to give up!" But an experienced rider will be continually looking at what he did before and studying all he did in that ride, but then step up and try a bigger and rougher horse, a bigger and rougher bull, and he will go out to win! We must "suit up for every game, whether we win or loose!" But we loose when we refuse to step out and take a risk at succeeding.

3. Success can breed complacency.

This is another tough nut. We all strive to come out on top, but it's important to remember that winning frequently results from a goodly sniff of luck. Moreover, mistakes prompt examination, whereas success can lead to a don't-fix-what-ain't-broke holding pattern. "When you have success, often there's an element of the stars being lined up with you," says Al Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership at Penn State University. "But having something go wrong is really an opportunity to look at processes and execution. What did you miss?"

***Complacency: satisfaction and smuggness. It becomes a routine, that never changes. We get too relaxed at what seems to work and never pull out into newer opportunities of growth. We just level out and never go any higher in what we do. I like looking at it in this fashion, as a musician, I play my guitar a certain way, this is a way that I learned early on. But, I learn a new style of playing, and I try it out, it works, it is a bit of a struggle but I overcome, now I am playing this new style along with what I already knew to do. Here, I can stop, level out and remain, but in that I do not grow in my playing any further. So what I do, I pray and ask God for new ways, ways of stretching, something different than before. I refuse to stop and level out, I keep growing in what I do, trying new ideas to improve the overall. A player will always keep trying for that higher note. It may take getting out of the comfort zone in order to do so.

4. Failure means you're not alone.

It's natural to feel as adrift and isolated as an off-target field-goal kicker when things go sour. But within the frustration of failure is a reminder — that scores of wildly successful businesses and businesspeople have also experienced failure that often was catastrophic but also was essential to finding success. And, as Vicere notes, that's company with which you can go to school: "It's important to study how others failed. That can help you build patterns that can prove exceedingly useful."

***Here is an area that we all can recieve from. The fact that others have been here before. But in this, we can learn what others did to keep on moving in that upward mode. Now, when we realize that we are not the first to burn a path of goof ups, that others been here before us, we have a choice, learn, keep on, or just simply fizzle out. Example: I am not the first singer to ever forget his lyrics, or even for that matter, misquote the lyric. But, from it I know others haev done this before, so I must learn to move on and NOT stop the song and say to the audience, "I messed up!" Singer Peter Gabriel was asked about forgetting lyrics, "What do you do when this happens?" He said, "I watch the lips of the person in the front row, and mimic them." I will add, prayerfully they know the song! Or otherwise we find a whole new challenge.

5. Failure doesn't necessarily mean something went wrong.

Yet another understandable reaction to failure is immediately assuming that something misfired. That's always a possibility. But bear in mind that failure can also derive from strength — perhaps an overly aggressive marketing or ad campaign, or simply a product or idea that's ahead of its time. That, in turn, can lead to analytic thinking to retool, not necessarily repair. "It's also a question of how you look at the failure," Farson says. "Often, it reflects a strength rather than any sort of weakness."

***Quoting Dallas Holm, he said one time: "When you go to a new resturant, the food is bad, that should not stop you from trying other resturants." Example again, we try a new church, it doesnt suit our needs, do we quit and say, "Well thats it, I am done, no more looking"? NO, we keep on and look, knwoing the right one is out there. But, now maybe we are trying a new approach to ministry, an opportunity to use maybe a media approach. Well, this is good, but what if the media fails, do we fall off the edge of life and die? NO, we move on and keep on working at it, trying to improve all its details. Yes, maybe it was operator malfunction, but in that, there must be a refusal to give up! There must be a desire to learn and grow!

6. Failure can emphasize process, not merely people.

Another functional pitfall of business is too much emphasis on the people involved, no matter if it's handing out due credit for success or searching for a scapegoat when something fizzles. Of course, people inevitably have a hand in how a business operates, but that overlooks the importance of how things actually function. And, through the self-examination that failure can prompt, people and processes can be brought into an equitable balance of importance. "Failure can help you move past finger-pointing and trying to lay blame," Vicere says. "It can lead to breaking down and examining a process, not simply an issue of personal failure."

***While working at TBN, I will always remember some simple wisdom snf advice from Paul Crouch. "When something goes wrong, study what you did, what happened, and learn to not repeat it." Simple facts! I cannot lay the blame on someone else when I am the one who hit the wrong button. I recall recording our Christmas album, the music was coming together and sounding excellent. While recording on day, on a new recorder, I reached out and hit, what I thought was the record button. Instead I had hit a button that asked, "Format?" When I thought maybe I had not hit it correctly, without looking, hit it again, saying, "Yes! format!" The result? The entire album....erased! Lesson learned, "Don't work the machine blindly!" Do not just reach out and hit buttons thinking they are the right ones, "Look at them!"

7. Failure broadens your thinking.

Consider the last time something really clicked. You wanted to repeat that process and the resulting feeling. Doing the same thing until it stops working can be a winning formula, but not one that necessarily touches on global issues of import, such as your overall operational plan, goals and philosophy. Here, failure steps in to fill the void. When something goes wrong, not only do you consider the various means of fixing that particular problem, you notch up your thinking to identify those broader elements that may have led to the snafu and others like it. And, down the line, that can mean solutions and adjustments before any further problems even crop up. "Thinking about what went wrong really pulls you up to a more strategic view," says Vicere. "It really forces you to think globally."

***Thus growth! Which interprets....success!