Sandy Schwan at Evolving Strategies, LLC

How Have I Failed Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

I was watching a 20/20 news story on the power of failure recently. It was really quite inspiring, with key lessons to walk away with.

Failure can:

• Keep you open to new ideas
• Be a key part of your recipe for success
• Just be life's way of nudging you and letting you know you're off course
• Help you know and learn who you are
• Work for you, not against you

Currently, I am leading a significant enterprise transformation effort at a global financial services company. What I know for sure is that there will be many 'failures' along the way. To help people feel more comfortable with the changes and 'failures' brought about by change, I am going to introduce this concept that 'failing is a good thing' in my meetings. I'm going to start my meetings with "What did you fail at today?" I'll be sure to mention my own failures, so that folks can see that we should expect to fail during this transformation. The key is to reflect upon and learn from these failures to help us continue to lead the organization through this multi-year transformation.

Stay tuned...I'll let you all know how this new approach to failure is working in a few months. In the meantime, now go do some failing on your own! Let me know how it is going....

Productivity - Up or Down?

I read an article this week saying that the productivity in Illinois is expected to go down until after the Super Bowl. Let me offer a different perspective.

Succeeding in the workplace - or anywhere for that matter - often depends on your ability to develop meaningful, trusting relationships with others. If talking about the Bears gives people a reason to connect, to further dialogue, to find a reason to put their differences aside to work together, terrific!

I also took away a number of lessons from watching some of the players in the game.

Rex Grossman

• His nerves were so obvious in the first half. Did you notice how tense his face muscles were and how his shoulder were sitting up around his ears? Fast forward to the second half when his confidence clearly soared. He relaxed, he threw some great passes.
• Lesson: Believe in yourself. Even if you don't feel confident at the moment, fake it. Trick yourself in to feeling the confidence. Believe me, you'll get there faster.

Lovie Smith

• Lots of ups, lots of downs throughout the game. But, his facial expression never really changed. He never attacked coaches or players during the game. He was a steady force, a calming influence throughout the game.
• Lesson: Steel resolve is a beautiful thing.

Brian Urlacher

• His abilities were questioned by the media before the game. Then, he was taunted by his opponents on the field. But, boy, didn't he deliver.
• Lesson: Stay focused on the task at hand. Stay in the moment. Find ways to turn the negativity of naysayers into something that can benefit you and your team.