Leadership Thought: If You Are Going to Fail, and Fail You Will, Fail Forward.

Dear Friends,

Failure is not our enemy if we learn from it. Our attitude toward failure will determine the ultimate impact of that failure. If we learn from it, it will ultimately help us not to make the same mistake again. But if we ignore it, we run the risk of repeating the same mistake.

The other day I presided at a funeral. In preparation for it, I needed to type some Scripture verses I wanted to read. I have voice activation on my computer which enables me to speak directly into it which then will automatically type my spoken words. Anyone who has used this feature, knows that in doing this, you have to indicate when you want to add punctuation such as commas, periods, and quotation marks.

And so, when I came to read the Scripture during the funeral service, and fresh off dictation, I audibly included the word “comma” in my reading of the first verse, and then to make matters even worse when I read the last words of verse 1 I involuntarily concluded it with the word “period.”

My performance was not only embarrassing to me, but it must have been baffling to those in the pews who were now scratching their heads wondering what was going on in the head of this pastor. To make matters worse, at the end of my reading of the verse, I remember audibly exclaiming for all to hear, “Where did that come from?”

I had become so programmed using my voice activation, speaking “comma,” “period,” and “quotation marks” that these words had unknowingly sneaked into my communication.

I am grateful my failure was small in comparison with the many far more significant failures I have made over a lifetime of ministry, (preaching a Stewardship sermon on Mother’s Day is right there near the top of the list). However, you can be sure of one thing: I will be careful to remind myself never again to carry my commas and periods into my ‘pulpit performance.’

Failure is never our enemy; it is our response to it that determines how we treat it. If we learn from it, we grow and become better because of it.

Years ago, John Maxwell wrote a wonderful book Failing Forward. The idea was that when we fail, we can learn from our mistakes and fail forward. We can be successful even in our failure when we make the necessary adjustments to succeed. We leverage our failure by learning from it. Failing creates character and provides us with the opportunity for growth.

I love what Winston Churchill once said about failure: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

So have a great day and remember if you are going to fail, and fail you will, be sure to “Fail Forward.”

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom