Three Minute Leadership – Not Fearing Failure – Making the Impossible Possible
To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning
Georges Clemenceau, 20th century French statesman and journalist, wrote: “Life gets interesting when we fail, because it’s a sign that we’ve surpassed ourselves.” Regina Dugan, director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in her March 2012 presentation at TED, From Mach-20 Glider to Humming Bird Drone, speaks about the impact of fear of failure has on our world view. She believes that “when you remove the fear of failure, impossible things suddenly become possible.” She states:
“If you want to know how, ask yourself this question: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? If you really ask yourself this question, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable.… Because when you ask it, you begin to understand how the fear of failure constrains you, how it keeps us from attempting great things, and life gets dull, amazing things stop happening. Sure, good things happen, but amazing things stop happening.”
With examples of the Wright brothers’ flight and proving the impossible was possible, Chuck Yeager flying faster than the speed of sound and today’s ventures of flying at Mach 20, Dugan says: “….We’ve had to believe in impossible things. And we had to refuse fear of failure.” She is not refuting the importance and value that failure brings to learning – “Failure is part of creating new and amazing things. We cannot both fear failure and make amazing new things.” – rather, she argues against fear’s limiting ability.
There was a time, she says, when you were young when you didn’t fear failure, when “you believed in impossible things and you were fearless. You were totally in touch with your inner superhero.” It is the joy for great leaders to dream impossible dreams and to take up a new challenge each day of their life, to be that superhero. Each morning as you awake, ask yourself: What would I attempt to do today if I knew that I could not fail? Embrace the advice given by Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Enjoy your fantastic journey and find your incredible richness. And have fun doing it.
Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!
Mike