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The Miracle of Failure

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: If you're trying to build your inspirational leadership, make sure you have good stories to tell about your successes. But don't leave out the lessons from your failures. Those might be the most inspiring stories you have to tell....

The Miracle of Failure

Inspirational Leaders Have "Learning Experiences" To Share One of my favorite country songs tells about the blessing of unanswered prayers. The lyricist knew that, painful as it might be, it's sometimes the best thing that can happen to us when we don't get what we want.

Countless authors have learned more about how to handle rejection than they've learned about writing... you don't have to go far to read a story of an eventual bestseller that was rejected by a publisher or agent before it was accepted and published. Plenty of entrepreneurs have "failed" to find financing for ideas which eventually made them millions. Barbara Streisand was told she couldn't sing; Ronald Reagan lost the 1976 Republican nomination to Gerald Ford.

None of these folks wanted to hear "no," but the common theme in most of their stories is one of overcoming rejection and failure to achieve ultimate success. I wonder if Streisand's initial failures might've led to a dismal career as a third-rate opera singer, if she hadn't decided to play to her voice's strengths and become a pop legend. And most experts agree that Reagan would not have beaten Jimmy Carter in 1976, but losing the nomination gave him the determination (and recognition) to trounce Carter four years later. In a way, the voice teachers and primary voters who handed the losses to these luminaries actually were doing them a favor.

Ever met a person who used the occasion of being laid off to start a great business? Same principle. You don't want to be laid off... but as another song goes, you can't always get what you want (though if you try, you get what you need).

If you're trying to build your inspirational leadership, make sure you have good stories to tell about your successes. But don't leave out the lessons from your failures. Those might be the most inspiring stories you have to tell.

Being fired for political reasons, early in her law career, helped boost my wife toward a fantastically successful career as a local-government attorney.

I myself have plenty of failure stories to tell... the "failed" audition that led to a better role with a different theater... the new song that one group didn't like enough to add to its repertoire, but which ended up launching a whole new group... the article rejected by one publication that became a hit with another.

If the failure is completely unexpected - even completely undeserved - it may be one of your best failures ever. If you believe in a Higher Power, do you think it's possible that the failure that should never have been might be a subtle message from your Maker, trying to get your attention, trying to get you to refocus your efforts on something else? After all, a miracle is really anything that can't be explained, right? Why do we only call it a miracle if it's an unexpected success?

Success always feels better than failure. But when failure comes - and it will, if you have anything close to a real life - try to embrace it. It's a new beginning. It's a message. It's a miracle! And you will be amazed at how often you are able to give more inspiration to more people with the stories of your failures than you could ever have given them with the tales of your victories.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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