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How to make the mindset shift that turns failure into enduring success

Conceptualize failure as a filter or sieve that removes unhelpful bits so that what remains can be reconstituted in a new form.

How to make the mindset shift that turns failure into enduring success

[Photo: CSA Images/Getty images]

BY Lydia Dishman4 minute read

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools . . .

Rudyard Kipling’s timeless verses could easily find themselves at home in any book on company culture, business philosophy, or entrepreneurial resilience. We need to be visionaries without getting lost in our visions. We need to meet failure with resolution and success with humility. We need to grow a thicker skin when dealing with scoundrels who contort our words and appropriate our ideas as their own.

Most of all, we must learn to pick up the pieces and start over, not by casting our previous efforts into the waste bin but by contemplating how to rearrange and repurpose them as we look toward the future.

Which is exactly the mindset suggested by this week’s addition to the Ethical Lexicon:

Macadamize (mac·​ad·​am·​ize/ muh-kad-uh-mize) verb

To pave by laying and compacting successive layers of broken stone, often with asphalt or hot tar.

In 1971, British singer-songwriter Scott English released a single titled “Brandy,” which reached No. 12 on the U.K. charts. Three years later, Barry Manilow slowed down the tempo a touch, reworked the chords, and changed the name. His version, “Mandy,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 list and became one of the most celebrated ballads in music history.

All the pieces were there in the original. They even worked. But with fresh eyes, a modicum of rearrangement transformed a good song into a composition of inspired genius. The same principle can work for us in business.

Creating a mindset shift to pivot out of failure

Even if you remember as far back as 2005, you probably never heard of the video dating site created by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. After their first week up and running, not one single video had been uploaded. When even a $20 incentive offer failed to attract users, the creators opened the platform beyond dating and allowed users to upload any video they wanted.

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The site quickly gained popularity. You’ve heard of it. It’s called YouTube, which Google acquired the following year for $1.65 billion. The founders discarded what wasn’t working, reconfigured what was left, and tried again.

Here’s the mindset shift: Conceptualize failure as a filter or sieve that removes unhelpful bits so that what remains can be reconstituted in a new form. The project failed to come together as expected? Good! Now let’s take what we have and see how we can organize it in a different way. The results might prove extraordinary.

Winston Churchill doubtless had this in mind when he defined success as going from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm.

Don’t restart from scratch

One of the most recognized artistic images in the world is the Mona Lisa. Scholars and critics have debated the seemingly inexplicable attraction of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, and a host of theories abound. The painting has even been subjected to X-ray imaging, which revealed three distinct incarnations of Mona Lisa beneath the portrait we see on the canvas.

Was Leonardo just practicing? More likely, he understood that each image, even after it was concealed beneath the next layer, contributed depth and texture to the final product. He didn’t see these stages as wasted time and effort, but as essential steps toward producing a work unlike any other.

Good work does not blossom into existence instantaneously. It often takes 5, 10, or 20 years to become an “overnight” success. Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Vera Wang, and James Dyson are among the super-successful creators who overcame failure on their way to achieving business stardom. But they didn’t restart from scratch. They built new layers on the bedrock of their previous efforts until the world took notice of their achievements.

King Solomon says, “Do you see the one who is diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings, and need not present himself before those who stand in shadow.”

The pressure of hitting benchmarks, meeting quarterly expectations, and generating short-term profits can easily short-circuit long-term success.  Toiling in the shadows isn’t glamorous or fulfilling. But finding the shards of success amid the rubble of failure is more than sound business sense. It speaks to the ethics of looking beneath the surface, of rejecting snap judgments or superficial assessments, and of appreciating the macadamized foundation on which enduring success is built.


Yonason Goldson works with business leaders to build a culture of ethics that earns trust, sparks initiative, and limits liability. He is an award-winning podcast host, TEDx speaker, and author of Grappling With the Gray: An Ethical Handbook for Personal Success and Business Prosperity.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lydia Dishman is the senior editor for Growth & Engagement for fastcompany.com. She has written for CBS Moneywatch, Fortune, The Guardian, Popular Science, and the New York Times, among others More