BusinessWeek.com has an intriguing article titled Why Failures Can Be Such Success Stories. I have an appreciation for these discussions because I can relate to many of these topics. My career has had many ups and downs and certainly does not look like a textbook example of how to build a career.
In business—as in sports, politics, and the arts—many of the greatest and most influential leaders share a history of failure. Automaker Henry Ford and animator Walt Disney both stumbled badly with early business ventures. Early in his career with General Electric (GE), Jack Welch caused an explosion that blew the roof off a building. Not long after taking Apple Computer (AAPL) public, founder Steve Jobs was ousted by the very man he recruited to lead the company.
Psychologists say it’s not simply the fact that these people learned from mistakes that led to eventual success. It’s also the resilience they displayed in getting past those potholes.
Blowing the roof off of a building definitely qualifies as a “pothole.” Resiliency is a key trait among successful leaders. Many companies realize this fact, but they do not have a method for assessing it. We do.
This definition was particularly apt:
While self-efficacy is akin to other aspects of positive thinking such as self-confidence and self-esteem, it relates in particular to self-assurance about being able to excel at a particular task rather than to a person’s overall self-image. When failure strikes, people with high self-efficacy learn from their errors and strengthen their resolve to succeed.
Leadership roles at any level require this ability. If you are not assessing for it today, perhaps it is time to start?