ELP June 2014 Class

Some days after our June ELP class I was driving across the DFW to a client meeting and was listening to Think on KERA. That episode was titled “Failing Up” and was a discussion with Ryan Holiday on his new book "The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumphs." The discussion covered failure, growth, and resilience through the lens of one’s life.

Numerous class discussion have focused on the positives of failure and how failure can foster leadership within a person. However, if our conversations have focused on the micro (two steps forward one step back), the conversation on with Holiday revolved around the macro. Success and leadership are not the result of a single event or reaction to an event. One who is branded a hero or leader resulting from a courageous action or an event developed the traits required to succeed and lead over their lifetime. Hesitation or action is not a result of the situation but the person.

The events which lead to the creation of a leader are not fate but choice. The person who hesitated failed to react because of years of decisions which did not prepare them for action. And though not much at the beginning, years and decades of planning for failure gave the person who acted a lifelong catalog of possibilities through which he/she is able to sort and splice for decisions and actions. During several classes, Pete has mentioned that when a systemic failure occurs the one ultimately responsible is the one who should have foreseen the failure. A successful leader will be constantly preparing for failure and constantly preparing to respond.

Let us all learn to fail with style.