Stephen H Baum Leadership

I am asked frequently whether successful leaders have had failures. It is not clear to me why parallels with sports, education and other fields are lost. Even the most gifted athletes have fallen short or, sometimes, just fallen. A deep-seated emotion propels them to try again, to resume training and conditioning, to set (literally) stretch goals. They want to be the best. They want to be winners. And they don’t give up. Did you see the anchor leg of the women’s 4×100 relay team pick up the dropped baton and finish the race even though not in medal contention? 

The best leaders are not born fully formed. Most are not as gifted genetically in leadership traits as Olympic athletes are in physical structure and properties. Instead their conditioning program is life: family life, schooling, early work experience, community service. In each of these, the muscle of their brain is developed, the memory in their gut is shaped, their self-confidence increases and they learn how to handle a variety of situations intellectually and emotionally. 

If you want to take charge of your life, control your own destiny, try to treat setbacks as learning experiences. Extract the learning and move on. As Tayyiba Haneef-Park of the USA women’s volleyball team said: Brasil beat us because, when they  made mistakes or suffered bad calls by the ref,  they stayed focused on the point being played. We lingered on the point already played. 

You are what you have tried, especially when you’ve failed.