How to bounce back from failure
If you sit in a Silicon Valley coffee shop long enough, you'll likely overhear the advice “fail fast, fail often.”
It's a mantra for Silicon Valley startups and for anyone else in business development. And it was the concept behind Nike's famous “Fail Harder” campaign. In the ad, Michael Jordan recounts all the times he has failed in life. Could Nike's ad agency, Weiden&Kennedy, have built their world-class shop on that same advice? And would it benefit agencies like ours to take a page from that book?
Steve Jobs might have thought so. He believed fear of failure was often baseless. In the documentary “Visionary Entrepreneur,” Jobs gives advice to startups and budding entrepreneurs, telling the story of a phone call he made to Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard at just 12 years old, requesting spare parts for a frequency counter. To his surprise, Hewlett picked up the phone and then hired Jobs that summer.
Later in his career, Jobs always tried to pay that favor forward when he got similar requests. And there was always time to do so because, as he said in the film, most people are so sure of failure that they never reach out. “You'll miss out on great experiences in life if you don't pick up the phone,” he said.
Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran also believes that more than talent, intellect, personality, work ethic or even great connections, one's ability to handle their emotions around failure is the key to an entrepreneur's success.
In a 2013 interview, Corcoran told Entrepreneur.com the only difference between her top agents making millions of dollars a year and the ones just getting by was their ability to get back up and pursue something new after taking a hit.
Here at our agency, that same level of tenacity is what sets our rising stars in the PR department apart. Those who stay determined to get the attention of reporters — even after getting hung up on, rejected, or insulted — are the ones that ultimately generate earned media for our clients over and over again.
And on the advertising side of our shop, the ability to think clearly, creatively and confidently after an idea goes over flat is what separates the great from the good.
My own role within the company — a hybrid between PR/PA and new business — comes with plenty of rejection, too. When you're sales, businesses development or nonprofit fundraising, you're bound to cross paths with people who would like to put you in your place — to discourage you from picking up the phone again or making the next ask.
Those conversations might make you fear what the next person will say. They might bring out your insecurities and make you feel shameful, awkward and exhausted.
Those conversations suck.
But if you can get past them, you'll learn that on the other side of rejection lies a world of equal and opposite interactions.
Pushing past, or just ignoring, possible rejection has put me in touch with people like U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, Droga5 Global CEO Sarah Thompson and world-renowned advertising genius Kash Sree. I went out on a limb to contact them out of nowhere, and all three picked up the phone or wrote me back.
From those interactions, I learned that on the other side of rejection is not only progress, but inspiration. Inspiration is a powerful drug when it comes to curing self-doubt, especially in pursuit of new business. And it can come from anywhere: a person, a book, an article or even a video can shift your frame of mind.
Want to be successful in real estate, a 12-year old entrepreneur… or maybe even one of the great marketers? When you're down, do whatever it takes to bounce back.
Go on vacation, write, run, read, or talk it out. Give failure — and, more importantly, recovery — a chance, and allow yourself to be inspired.
Be bold and call that person you've always wanted to meet. And don't be surprised when your future boss, mentor or dear friend picks up the phone.
Chris Philbrook is director of public affairs at Industrium. He can be reached at cphilbrook@industrium.com.
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