I am sure many of you reading this live by the slogan “failure is not an option.”  After all, I would guess that you are quite successful.  If you look back down your road to success I bet you will see some “failures.”  However, I would argue you probably don’t categorize them as failures, but more like the best thing that ever happened, a great learning experience, or even the best decision I could have made at the time. 

                Fortunately, I have a great supervisor who tells me that he believes when I make a decision or offer advice to my clients that he trusts that  I always have their best interest in mind, and I consider it to be the best decision.  Sometimes he indicates that it may not be the right decision, but you learn from it.  Some of you may not feel you have the luxury to make mistakes, or even worse-have a failure.  But really aren’t all failures really just learning experiences?  How do we grow if not for our mistakes? 

                I recently read a blog by Dallon Christensen titled, “Failure IS an Option.”    In his post he talks about the failures Steve Jobs and Apple had.  I think you would all agree Apple and Steve learned from those failures.  Maybe you are like me and love Apple and so glad they didn’t back down when they had failures, or maybe you do not care about Apple, but I would argue you cannot fault their success. 

                So what is your attitude?  I can’t fail so I will not even try? How are you going to differentiate your business and grow?  Or maybe you are willing to think outside the box and try new things, but unwilling to admit defeat.  Why would you continue to invest in something you need to give up on?  Learn from your mistakes and grow, don’t be so afraid to fail that you do not even try.  Imagine the technology world if Steve Jobs would have had that attitude. 

                Perhaps, you would even dispute that learning from your mistakes is not failure at all, but steps in the right direction-at least I hope you would!