Failure is Good

Have you failed in the last 6 months? If not, are you sure you are setting yourself up for success?

Failure – a word that many of us would like to avoid in our lives; a word that causes negative feelings and affects our confidence; a word that raises many questions on our abilities and makes us lose trust/confidence amongst our colleagues. Yet, are these the right feelings? Are these the right outcomes of a failure? If they are, how did Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mahatma Gandhi, Soichiro Honda, Akio Morita and many others become so successful? They had many failures. Infact, when we look at the history of any successful person, we find many failures. Without failure, there is no success. Yet, many of us abhor failure.

Before we go forward, let us look at two case studies:

Case study 1: Here is a man, who in his youth, went to war as a captain but returned as a private (lowest rank in the army); failed in business at the age of 21; defeated in a legislative race at 22; failed in business again at age 24; overcame the death of sweetheart at 26; had a nervous breakdown at age 27; lost congressional rage at 34; lost a senator race at age 45; failed in an effort to become vice president at 47; lost a senator race at 49 and was elected president of United States at age 52. His name is Abraham Lincoln and he is now remembered as one of the greatest leaders of America.

Case study 2: Another example of a man who at the age of 65 is termed as failure by everyone. He had in his possession a beat-up car and $100 check from social security. He realized he had to do something. He remembered his mother’s recipe and went out selling. He knocked on many doors but his recipe was rejected. He tried 1,009 times before his recipe was finally accepted and then turned out to be a huge success. His name is Harland David Sanders, also known as Colonel Sanders and we all know about the famous recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

List continues with Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Oprah Winfrey, Charlie Chaplin, Harrison Ford, J.K. Rowling, Elvis Presley and many others.

When do we fail? Do we fail when we are doing what we know well, time and again? No. We do, only when we move out of our comfort zone and try something new. This in turn means we fail only when we are trying to learn or in other words, if we are not failing, we are not learning.  In such a fast changing world, if we do not continue our learning process, we become outdated very soon. Hence, we can easily summarize that if we are not failing, we are not learning; and if we are not learning, we are not setting ourselves up for success.

Yet, people fear failure. Why? That’s because while we all theoretically agree that failure is good and is a stepping stone for success, as a society, corporate we abhor failure. When was the last time we have seen someone who has taken risk and fail get rewarded or promoted? When was the last time such a person is shown as an ideal/model that others should follow? Instead, we look at it negatively and penalize such people. This behavior disincentives people from taking risks; and thus, opportunities to learn. Infact, outside of Silicon Valley, failure is not appreciated. Hence, is it surprising that a lot of innovation happens in Silicon Valley than other places?

I have two key messages to an individual and his/her manager:

To Individual:

1.       Don’t be scared of failure. It is the best teacher that you can find. Success, while exhilarating would not teach you as many things as failure. As a medical pill could be bitter yet provide better health to the person, failure is a bitter pill that sets us up for success. Failure also teaches up about relationships – who are wearing a façade by the way they treat us and who are the real people who are willing to stand by us and have confidence in us even during failure. The second set of relationships is the one we need to nurture.

2.       Move out of your comfort zone. Look back in your past and reflect on any major success/achievement of yours. Now, go back to the night before the success/achievement. What were you feeling? Most of us would have been feeling anxious, even restless with butterflies in our stomach. This clearly shows that success can be achieved only when we move out of our comfort zone, when we take risks. Hence, go ahead and take risks. Embrace failure and you will set yourself up for success

To Manager: Encourage risk taking. If people fail in the process, incentivize them. Celebrate their failures as this will further encourage risk taking and thus enable innovation in the organization.

The day we celebrate success and failures in equal terms, we will promote learning & innovation across the organization. I am not saying that we should promote a person who has capability issues and fails continuously in their job. However, we should not see such a failure in the same light as a failure resulting from risk taking and expanding the horizons of an individual. In a future blog, I’ll discuss examples of organizations which incentivize both success and failure.

In the words of Michael Jordan, famous basketball player who incidentally was cut from his high school basketball team – “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded”. This shows that failure is good. Are you ready to Fail? Happy Failing!!

Decision making - Examples

My last blog has been a great topic of discussion with some of my close colleagues and friends. We had great debates and even examined some of the decisions made in political/corporate world in the context of what I had written. I am reproducing few of the points here.

Before I dive into the topic, let me state one key point – Decision making is an Art, not a science. If it would have been science, we would have got more than 99% of the decisions right. The fact that the % of decisions that are right is close to 50%-60% (as per research) makes it an Art.

Independent of the frameworks, Decision making is not easy and gets very complicated as we go higher in the Organization primarily for two reasons - one, lack of data to bank upon to make decision and two, the usual timeframe to know the outcome of decision is few years. Hence, CXOs who have the history of making better decisions are usually in demand and get highly paid for this ability.

Before we examine some key decisions in the context of my framework, I’d like to place two disclaimers:

Disclaimer 1: Hindsight, all of us are smart. Hence, examining the decision is not about being judgmental about the person who made the decision but more to learn from the experience.

Disclaimer 2: Leadership is all about having view points and I do understand every one of you may have a view point on the decisions that we are examining which could be different from that of mine. I respect your view points and would definitely like to read them.

George Bush’s decision on Iraq War – One of the points we examined in the preliminary stage of decision making is for Leader to have an open mind. I think here is a case of premeditated decision and looking for data to substantiate it. One of the challenges as we move higher in the organization is that people will say what we want to listen. Having a premeditated mind is one of the biggest pitfalls of a Leader. Independent of the result of the war, here was a case where a decision has been made and rest of the world looked for data to justify it.

Drake fails to patent oil drill – In 1858, Seneca Oil Company sent Edwin Drake to Pennsylvania to investigate ways to extract oil from the ground. Oil bubbled up in the area but the idea of drilling for it seemed far-fetched. Drake met with one failed attempt after another but finally figured out a way to get a cast-iron pile deep into the earth’s surface, and in August 1859, he struck oil 69 feet down - first ever oil drilling. But neither Drake nor Seneca had patented the drill. Other entrepreneurs began using this method to extract oil and due to the boom, the oil prices lowered thus putting Drake out of business. Here is a case of missing strategic implications – looking at the scope and timeframe. Expanding the scope of looking at the invention to enhance the business could have resulted in the idea of patenting it to generate additional revenues. Also, looking at it across time frame could have demonstrated that the invention could result in oil being available in surplus and thus lower prices. Patenting the invention could result in controlled oil extraction thus demanding higher prices. Hence, it is important to examine scope and timeframe for all our decisions.

Ford resisting changing model T, Kodak not embracing changing trends in photography are examples of not involving people closer to work in decision making. Ford model T (1908 – 1927) was the first mass produced automobile and provided America with reliable low-cost transportation. However, when Chrysler and Chevrolet were producing more stylish and technologically advanced cars, Ford continued to stick to model T. This has resulted in Chrysler taking lead over Ford in car sales. Similarly, Kodak could not embrace the changing trends in photography like Instant photography, lower priced film roll and Digital photography. Both in Ford and Kodak, employees have noticed the changing trends but were not involved in decision making process. There are innumerable examples of such situations including the recent failure of Borders and Barnes & Noble to adapt to the internet revolution.

Anna Hazare campaign - Inclusivity is critical for the success of the decision but Leader has to make the final decision. Group decision making has rarely been successful as no single member of the group would take accountability for the decision. Anna Hazare’s campaign against anti-corruption is a classic case of such a situation. While his and the core team’s intent is honorable, failure to bring the core team together and make decisions has resulted in the campaign losing steam from a very formidable position. There is lack of coherence amongst the group and core team members were stating different views. No clear direction was set and this created confusion amongst public in terms of next steps for the campaign. Anna (or a designate) making final call on the campaign (after hearing view points from all stakeholders) could have resulted in much larger success to the anti-corruption movement.

Infosys iRACE – Infosys introduction of iRACE is an excellent decision that has gone wrong primarily for its failure to socialize the decision with key stakeholders (in this case, employees). With changing expectations from the customers and increased level of complexity in work, Infosys introduced the idea of mapping positions with experience and skill levels. Infosys, through introduction of IRACE, was trying to drive a cultural change in the Organization – focus more on technological and skill expertise to move to next levels in the organization as against purely growth enabling such promotions. Such a cultural change requires huge communication drives and socialization with employee base across all levels before implementing changes. Failure to do so has resulted in a reputational loss for the firm from an employee perspective. As a reactive measure, Infosys created sub-committees at various levels in the organization to address concerns of employees. However, proactively driving campaigns explaining the need for change and assessing the right time to implement iRACE could have resulted in better success of the program.

There are few other decisions where it is difficult to say what could have gone wrong with them. In hindsight, we could say it was a missed opportunity. Examples of such decisions are Yahoo declining to buy Google; and Yahoo declining Microsoft overture to buy it. In hindsight we could say that Yahoo should have grabbed those opportunities (may be second situation would not have arisen if they bought Google in first place) but difficult to say what we would have done if we were in Jerry Yang’s position.

When I reflect back on my decisions, there are many that I wish I can go back and change. But more importantly, such reflection provides valuable lessons for my future decisions. Your thoughts??

Decision making

Decision making - As Leaders, our primary responsibility is to make decisions. Not a day passes in Leader’s life without him/her making multiple decisions. Decision making for Leaders is laden with three primary challenges.

1.       Do I have the required information to make decision?

2.       Is this the right time to make the decision?

3.       Can I stay with an open mind until I make the decision?

We always puzzle on the first two challenges while not being cognizant of the third. Of the first two challenges, we always trade off one for the other i.e., either we wait for eternity to get the required information thus missing out on the timeframe to make the decision; or in rush to make the decision, we may not focus on gathering the required level of information.

I’d like to share with you my perspectives on Decision making and 6 key stages that we need to go through to make an effective decision. Following are the key stages:

1.       Preliminary stage

2.       Strategic Imperative

3.       Broadening the view

4.       Making the Decision

5.       Socializing

6.       Communicating

Let us examine each of the stages

Preliminary stage – This is the first step for any Decision making and involves asking two key questions.

First question – Am I the right person to make the decision? This is a critical question that we need to ask ourselves.  More often than not, we get this element right when the decision indeed has to be made by a person higher in the command/value chain (our boss, customer etc).  However, we do not get this right when the decision indeed could be made by one of our team members. We tend to over exercise our right to make decisions without delegating this key function to our team members and subsequently lament about their inability to make the right decision. If we do not empower them, we cannot build this critical capability in them. Hence, it is a good place to start by asking this question – Am I the right person to make this decision?

Second question – Can I stay with an open mind until I make the decision? One of our biggest fallacies is our inability to stay with the question. We always prefer status-quo (a state that we feel extremely comfortable to operate in but are laden with failure – more in a future blog) and when we get pushed out of that state, we are in an uncomfortable zone and human nature is to bring it back to equilibrium or status-quo. Hence, in decision making process, we either rush to make a decision or can never make a decision. This question reminds us to keep an open mind while we consider all the options. One of my professors said to me “Intelligent mind is one that can hold two equally opposing thoughts at the same time”.

Strategic Imperative – Confirming that we are the right person to make the decision and committing to have an open mind, it is important for us to understand the implications of the decision. This can be achieved by asking three questions.

First question – Do I understand the implications of the decision? While it is natural for us to focus on immediate impact of our decisions, as Leaders who make decisions that need to be sustainable, it is important for us to examine the impact of our decisions across two planes – Scope and Timeframe. Scope refers to extent of team/Organization that the decision impacts and consequences of such an impact on other parts of the value chain – rest of the organization, customers, suppliers, stakeholders etc. While examining the impact, it would be good to evaluate unintended consequences too. Timeframe refers to examining the impact of decision across time periods. Here, I like Suzy Welch’s model of 10-10-10. Assessing the impact of decision in 10 minutes (immediate), 10 months (moderate time period) and 10 years (longer time frame) enables us to judge better both short term and long term implications of our decision. Sometimes, by examining the decision across these time periods, both the scope of the decision and who should make the decision could get revisited. What seemed a trivial decision could sometimes translate to be most critical decision and one that may impact larger organization than earlier scoped.

Second question – Who are the key stakeholders? We need to understand that we are operating in Organization ecosystem and how much ever simple/independent a decision could look like, it is important for us to list stakeholders who could either be impacted by the decision or whose buy-in is required for us to effectively implement the decision. Hence, in this stage, it is important for us to list the key stakeholders for the decision.

Third question – When is the best time to make the decision? Understanding the implications and key stakeholders, it is important to objectively put a timeframe in which the decision has to be made. This will help us to be honest and effective in decision making. History has proven that Leaders fail not because they made the wrong decision but did not make it at the right time. Hence, being objective about when we should make the decision before we start the process will ensure that we do not wait for eternity to get the required information before a decision could be made.

Broaden view – Now that we understand the implications, key stakeholders and timeframe in which the decision has to be made, we should start the decision making process by broadening our view. Broadening our view literally means our willingness to learn. Following two questions will help our learning process.

First question – Have I involved the right people in the decision making process? Most decisions are not effective as we do not involve people who are closer to the issue at hand in the decision making process. By listing people who are closer to the issue at hand and ensuring that all their viewpoints/perspectives are heard will ensure that we make better decisions.

Second question – What information do I require to make the decision? It is important to list critical variables/inputs that are required for us to make the decision and vet this with people who are closer to the ground to ensure that we are not missing out on any key components. While listing these variables, it is important to acknowledge that we may not have all the inputs available for us to make the decision but listing them out will ensure that we are looking at the issue at hand from all possible angles.

Making the Decision – Having done the required pre-work to make the decision, now is the time to actually start the process of decision making. This will require us to talk to key people whom we have listed to involve in decision making process and engage them on the variables listed in the broaden view section. This could be done either through 1-1s or in a group format by adopting brainstorming approach. Once all the alternatives are assessed, as a Leader we have to make the decision.

One key aspect that we need to remember is the difference between inclusivity and consensus. While decision making process should be inclusive (taking in inputs from all key people), it cannot be consensus based approach. Having decided in the preliminary stage that we are the right person to make the decision, it is important for us to make the decision. We cannot delegate the decision to a group. We should hear people views and arguments but the final decision will rest upon us to make. If we shy away from making the decision (sometimes the decisions could be unpopular), we will lose respect as a Leader.

Socializing – Having made the decision, for us to effectively implement it, the decision should be socialized with key stakeholders. This is the buy-in process and varies significantly based on the culture of the Organization. If we fail to adopt this approach, we could have made the most effective decision but it would fail in execution. As we go through this process, we may come across information/perspective that may take us back to any of the earlier stages. But it is important not to miss this step in rush to execute the decision.

Communicating – Once we achieve the buy-in from key stakeholders, we should communicate the decision to the larger teams. We should draw up a communication plan. More often than not, this stage is skipped over or done through an email. Depending upon the implication of the decision that we have identified in strategic imperative stage, our communication plan should be strengthened. Simple formula for effective communication – Communicate… Communicate… Communicate… There is nothing like over communication. More importantly, it is important for the associates to hear directly from the Leader. Hence, if the decision has far reaching impact (score or timeframe), it is important for Leader to directly communicate the decision to the teams.

For some decisions, we simply go through these steps in our head; while for others, we may document each of the stages and lists.

As a Leader, it is important to communicate our decisions but much more important is to acknowledge when our decision is not right. This acknowledgement will strengthen our bond with the teams and will further establish us as a respected Leader in the eyes of the associates.

Now you have to make a critical decision – Should you read my future blogs or not? J

Who am I?

As we start this new year, it is important to take a step back and ask ourselves a very critical question - "Who am I?". Self Awareness is extremely critical for Leaders to be successful and more often than not, this is an area that is ignored. We train Leaders on various skill sets like Coaching, Performance management, Strategic thinking, etc but self awareness is not on any Talent Development's team curriculum. In this fast paced world where more needs to be delivered with less resources, time (which is a critical component for Self Awareness) is constrained and hence, Leaders do not get an opportunity to think and reflect upon.

I hereby list 5 key reasons why all Leaders should make time and focus upon Self Awareness.

Reason #1: Success As Leaders move up the corporate ladder, one of the critical components that they are evaluated on is EQ - Emotional Quotient. With the challenges that are faced by the CXOs, EQ becomes extremely critical for their ability to address these challenges and make tough decisions. Self Awareness is very important for Leaders to develop higher EQ.

Reason #2: Relationships In today's Digital/Knowledge/Service economy, it is all about people. Leaders have to constantly interact and build relationships with people - customers, employees, partners, stakeholders. In order to build sustainable and long term relationships, it is important to go beyond transactional relationship to transformational relationship. to build transformational relationship, it is important for Leader to be self aware of his/her strengths, weaknesses and more importantly of his/her emotions.

Reason #3: Decision making One of the critical functions of a Leader is to make decisions. In the course of the day, he/she is asked to make multiple decisions that have far reaching consequences on the Organization. State of mind of the Leader plays a very critical role in his/her decision making and it is very important for Leader to be aware of his/her state of mind while making decisions. If an extremely critical decision is made when the state of mind of the Leader is in auto-pilot mode, it may not be the most effective decision for the Organization.

Reason #4: Adaptability Leaders are faced with constant change around them. In today's world, where business cycles and operating model change in span of an year, product innovation is phasing out products even before they scale in production, Leaders have to constantly be aware of the change around them and adapt themselves and their Organizations to deal with the change in the environment. Leaders ability to change and adapt themselves cannot be achieved without them being aware of their own emotions, mental blocks and state of mind. This awareness will enable the Leader to effectively deal with their Transitions.

Reason #5: Manage Stress Life of a Leader is laden with stress. Burden of responsibility for the success of the Organization (and thus the success of stakeholders and thousands of employees) is not easy to handle. Being self aware will ensure that this stress is not further added by insecurities of the Leader and their ego coming into play while fulfilling their responsibilities. Being self aware will ensure that the Leader plays to his/her strengths while fully leveraging strengths of his/her team for the overall success of the Organization.

Hence, it is important the we focus on knowing more about ourselves. Unless we know ourself better, we cannot understand others and hence our ability to build long lasting relationships will not be successful. I'd ask each one of you to ask this question - "Who am I?" and note down your responses. We all can learn more about ourselves by opening our mind and willing to receive... Listen more (verbal/non verbal), Observe (self, others) and Reflect. We will discuss this more in future blogs.

Now, do you know Who am I??

Welcome to my Blog

Thank you for visiting my Blog. This is my first attempt at writing a blog and your visits and comments will encourage me to create and more importantly, sustain this Blog.

One of the primary reasons for putting together this Blog is to share my perspectives on Leadership. Leadership Development and Coaching are my areas of Passion. While I do get an opportunity to engage in them as part of my day to day responsibilities at work, I thought I could use this medium to share my perspectives with the larger world.

Please do post your comments, your perspectives to my articles. I hope your visits to my blog will help you take away a thought or two to ponder on; and I definitely will be learning a lot from your comments and our interactions.

Thank you for your support.