Failure Is Not An Option
“Failure is not an option” - Gene Kranz - (Allegedly)
Growing up my dad was a big fan of all things NASA. One quote that I remember seeing throughout the house was “Failure Is Not An Option” from the Apollo 13 mission with Gene Kranz. Apparently he never said those words but that’s beside the point. The take-home was exactly as it sounded, failure is not an option.
I took those words to heart. Those who have known me over the years know that I’ve been a risk mitigator (is that a word?). Professionally, financially and even within my own relationships, I’ve loved to mitigate risk. Failure was not an option.
Growing up in school, I dropped classes that got too hard, I went to a college that I knew I could handle academically. Growing up playing sports I practiced more than most of my peers but rarely had success in games due to game anxiety. The fear of failure would overwhelm me when the lights turned on. Not fun. I’ll never forget the feeling of making 49 out of 50 free throws or hitting 3 pointer after 3 pointer in practice only to feel the shaking hands of a kid terrified of falling short during the game.
Game anxiety and overall life anxiety certainly challenged me throughout my formative years and I’d be lying to say that I still don’t feel anxious or nervous from time to time. Golf can get intense ok?
What’s changed within me over the past few years has been a realization of what that sentence about failure means to me and probably what my dad meant by it the whole time. Failure comes in many shapes and sizes but it’s normally due to a lack of effort or persistence. Point being, not all failures are the same.
Failure drives good leadership, it drives loving parents and it can be the fuel to actions that change lives for the better. Learning from failure has been the only tried and true way for us humans to get better at anything.
A conversation that I had this week struck home to me. A young coach had just had their “worst failure on the training floor in their career”. A pretty big statement. Judging from the look in their eyes, they meant it. It hadn’t been a good day.
What I found myself saying to that coach was centered around taking action from that failure. Using it as direction to make adjustments, try new methods and find a solution. I found myself getting excited for the guy because he had an opportunity that we don’t get that often. Clear, concise information on what doesn’t work. Armed with information like that, the world is our oyster.
The story of Tom Watson at IBM, forgiving a mistake made by a salesperson that cost IBM millions of dollars, does a good job showing the power of mindset when it comes to failure. Apparently, the sales guy already had his resignation written up and ready to hand in, thinking that for sure the company was going to fire him. Watson’s reasoning as to why they were keeping him around was that they had just invested those millions of dollars in the salesperson’s education, why would they fire him? Talk about a growth mindset.
“Failure is not an option” drove fear within me during my childhood. I avoided challenge at all cost and instead sought out comfort and sure victories. What I failed to realize was every time that I failed it added a little something to my library of what not to do. Build a library big enough of what not to do and heck, I like my chances of finding a solid solution! Answer via elimination.
Over the last few years I’ve started a business capable of failing, traveled to new places capable of being terrible, bought a home capable of becoming worthless, loved deeply and honestly with the capability of being hurt and come to the conclusion that the only failure that I should be afraid of is the kind that goes along with not putting my heart and soul into what I’m doing. Life has a weird way of shaping who we are. I’ve failed enough times to realize that no matter how many safety nets I put into place, that leap of faith will always come with risk of falling on my face. It doesn’t mean don’t jump, it just means be ready to get back up.
Failure to take the leap is not an option. Get it right Mr. Kranz.