Don't Confront Me With My Failures - I Have Not Forgotten Them!

These are words from an old Jackson Browne song, These Days, that he wrote at 16 in 1967. I had the occasion to see him recently and as he played the song I again became attracted to this line as I have for most of my life.

In looking back on a more than 30 year career, I vividly remember everything I failed at. The list is long and painful. I remember the disappointment surrounding things I tried and failed at in the 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's like it was yesterday. I put everything into my ideas and often let them germinate for months or years before trying them. I think about applying them in an almost obsessive way during this time. It is no wonder I take a "gut punch" when they don't go the way I had hoped or envisioned. There are some I still cannot let go of even after trying them many times and failing...I still have the desire to try.

This isn't like Michael Jordan not making the school team only to become the greatest basketball player ever. Or the fact that a ball player who hits 400 for average fails 60 percent of the time. These are the combination of career choices and the day to day choices we make within those career choices. These collective choices can make our company's great over time by raising the tide, boats and all on board.

Or they can tank your company like the Titanic.

If you have high impact and help your company, by definition you raise your own profile and the profile of those you work and network with. The key here is having the balls to try, fail, try, fail, and try until you succeed. This can take a lot of time, handholding, vices, therapy, pain, talking and money as well as a dozen other things. Unfortunately, it's the way it is. You can improve your chances at success with schooling, mentoring, a good partner, and finally, time. Time to fail at more things so the collective experience from the things you tried and failed at outweigh inertia and tip the scale to winning and success.

I have experienced what I feel is success in my career. I feel good about what I have accomplished as the grey starts to become the dominant color of my hair. But after my biggest success I decided to stop working for almost 3 years to see what that felt like.

It sucked.

I went back to a challenging job in a big company and believe I was better off for the time off. For the next 4 years things were going great and I had a clear road into retirement, for as far as the eye could see. So, I gave "big co" the finger and left for a challenging job in a small company earlier this year.

It's a place where we try lots of ideas to help improve the business. Some will work and my experience tells me most will fail. What is different here is we get to teach. We have a team of all-stars, and potential all-stars, to go through the experience with which is comforting.

The silver lining is the collective experience well continues to fill up just waiting to be drawn from.

We feel the momentum turning and believe something will hit, change will occur, and we will have both success and the pleasure of showing others how to do it.

My Best,