DailyPost 1613
WHO OWNS THE FAILURE?
While failure plays a predominant role in our lives, we try our level best not to document it. It has reached such nonsensical levels, that if you go by the public utterances, no govt. has ever failed in anything, no individual has ever underperformed and no enterprise accepts to its failings and make amends, till the time it gets fully busted. The performance appraisals are a reflection of what you think about yourself and what relationship you have with your boss rather than a narration of success and failures. The more interesting part of this whole exercise is that nobody declares his failures. There is an attempt to push it under the carpet and in hushed silence allow to pass it over. Then again the time of bragging can safely start.
If nobody accepts and declares the failure, where is question of owning it. And if nobody can own the failure, what is this system all about? How can we move further, if we don’t have a tryst with failure. On the other hand, there has been very sincere efforts to dilute failure, create an ecosystem where failure becomes more and more difficult. Actually, they fail, but the new manipulated systems would never reflect the real story. With all its failings, at least the mainstream school education and to some extent college education declares the failures outright. And for many of the non-performers that declaration turns out to be the turning points of their lives.
They have been made to own and so the change. The ones who have to be condemned are condemned well and proper. What we should aim for is to bring this examination system to the real world. Objective failure audit of the real world. Otherwise, nobody would accept failure and we keep keep going round and round. If no government has ever failed in anything then why are the results not there in the open. The opposition states exactly the opposite. Can success or failure ever be evaluated in this manner. What is the punishment for hiding and evading failure? And what is the remedial mechanism.
The biggest behavioural trait and mindset of a professional is to own his failure. Once you have crossed this barrier you have crossed the first step to become a mercenary professional. It’s the battle of the mind, a paradigm shift, to make out an impending failure and act accordingly, that could save your world. So many times the lack of understanding of this element finally leads us to failure. If you make a cursory recall of all professionals you have interacted with in the last few years, how many of them have ever owned their failure? In the fast changing, complex, dynamic and real time delivery world, can there be anybody, enterprise, govt or a nation that would not have to face failure on a regular basis. Owning failure is the only way to be successful in life.
NON FAILURE OWNING MINDSET IS A FAILED MINDSET.