“It can’t be done.”

This is the conclusion that some people come to after giving something a few tries.

Others take on the mindset of:

“We have not figured out yet how to do it.”

When we are working on a hard goal, setbacks and failures are part of what is involved.  This can surely be disappointing.  But if we are truly inspired by the goal and especially what it can do for others, then we should encourage one another to keep working at it.

This great quote by Thomas Edison is a good reminder:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Success in any endeavor is not “supposed” to be easy.

Sometimes our ideas on how to pursue a goal need to be “tweaked.”  Maybe many times over.  You need to look deeply at the failure you have had and study it.  We can learn a lot from failures if we have the right mindset.

This is why the practice of After Action Reviews is so important.  Maybe you need to “pivot” your efforts one way or the other.  But you will never know if you don’t fully investigate.  (See this blog on AARs to learn how to do them right and this blog on an HBR article on improving your “Return on Failure.”)

There are scientists who have been working for decades to find a cure for cancer.  They have made a lot of progress, but the total cure is still elusive.  I’m glad they have a mindset of “We simply have not figured it out yet.”

An attitude that embraces hard work and failure can lead to much higher levels of performance.  Take this on as an individual and make it a part of your organization’s culture.  Without this, you are limiting your potential and holding yourself back from the true Mission Impact you can really make.

Recent research, as reported in Harvard Business Review*, shows that we should instead treat ourselves with “self-compassion.”  This includes:

*Be kind rather than judgmental with ourselves about failures and mistakes.  Imagine the positive perspective you would give to a good friend regarding the setback.

*Recognize that failures are a shared human experience.  Yes, in fact, you are human and no one expects you to be Superman or Wonder Woman.

*Take a balanced approach to negative emotions.  If you want to feel bad for a while about a miscue, fine.  But move on and don’t let the negative emotions take over.  It’s the dwelling on the negative that is a problem.

It is vital that we shift our focus from feeling bad about the mistake, and move on to learning from it.  Research shows that people who practice self-compassion have a higher motivation to improve.

The application of self-compassion triggers a “growth mindset” – continuous improvement and professional development.  Truly, we learn much more from setbacks than we do from getting everything right all the time.

So – give yourself a break!  No one is perfect.  By moving past a setback and learning from it we will improve our leadership capabilities and make even more of a Mission Impact.

*“Give Yourself a Break: The Power of Self-Compassion,” Chen, S., Harvard Business Review, September-October, 2018, pp. 116 – 123.

The field of positive psychology, with leaders like Dr. Martin Seligman, has demonstrated that an optimistic attitude can lead to higher levels of success for people in a wide variety of activities.  In fact, Seligman and others have developed training programs that can actually help people become more optimistic and successful.

But can optimism go too far?

Yes. And this is where “flexible optimism” – a term Seligman invented – comes in.

Essentially, the most successful optimists understand they need to be careful when they are pursuing a big goal with a lot of risks.  They talk with others – especially natural pessimists – to see what risks others see in the potential course of action.  Then, either they decide not to pursue that course of action or they go into it well informed – and prepared to handle possible setbacks.

Once upon a time, I had a friend who was pursuing a risky goal.  Things were not looking good as he got very close to the deadline and I asked him, “What are your back-up plans if this does not work out?”  His response: “Failure is not an option.”

On one hand, I appreciate that attitude.  But, in this case, he did fail.  And then he and his team needed to scramble to figure out what to do while they were very stressed out.  Their response to the setback would have been much more effective if they had time to calmly think through their options before the panic of the failure was upon them.

Once we take the time to carefully assess the risk of a goal we may dial back our ambition.  Or we may go for it – fully informed and prepared to live with the consequences of not making it all the way.

Acrobats who perform death defying high wire acts without a net may provide more thrills for audiences, but the ones who use nets live longer.  The same is true for leaders who want to make a Mission Impact.

To which I say “Sort of.”

The “Hairy” in BHAGs is “scary” – like taking a big risk.  Hairy, scary goals might be appropriate sometimes – but research shows that they are not effective if an organization is desperate.  If you are thinking “We need to turn things around, let’s go for it and bet our future on this new idea.  Failure is not an option!”  Then, according to research reported in the Jan-Feb 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review by Sitkin, Miller, & See (The Stretch Goal Paradox), this may not be a good idea.

This is because success rates with a “stretch” goal are improved if an organization has a winning attitude (recent successes).  Desperate organizations usually do not fit this mold.

Interestingly, though, a lot of successful organizations don’t even try Almost Impossible Goals because they have gotten too used to “winning.”  The idea of taking a risk and having a possible failure is too much for them.  Hence, the “Paradox” in the title of the HBR article.

I have found that it is helpful if organizations can think of these Almost Impossible Goals as “Happy,” not “Hairy.”  I encourage people NOT to set these big goals unless they are actually willing to fail at them.  Of course you don’t want to fail.  But once you can accept that failure at a wonderfully big goal is not so terrible, it gives you the freedom to really play with ideas and get creative.  You can be in a “happy place” and really go for it without looking back.

If scary, hairy goals work for you, then great.  But I prefer the more fun approach of Big Happy Audacious Goals (see here to learn more).  Even if you don’t make it, you can be happy and proud that you pursued something you really care about to make a Mission Impact.

Do you do an “After Action Review” at the conclusion of every project?  This is highly recommended.  When you do it, make sure to point out the positive aspects of the project and the things that could have been done better.  Don’t fall into the trap of just ignoring failures or being embarrassed about them.  Here are the three tips from the HBR authors:

1. Learn from Every Failure. While it can be painful to look back, we need to discipline ourselves to do this even if we are very disappointed.  Pixar’s President, Ed Catmull, is quoted in the article: “Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil.  They aren’t evil at all.  They are the inevitable consequence of doing something new . . . and should be seen as valuable.”

2. Share the Lessons. Get over the embarrassment factor.  Set aside a time at staff meetings to share what people have learned from failures or setbacks.  If you are a larger organization, perhaps consider a place to post these electronically or on an intranet.  The HBR authors suggest Triple F Reviews: do them Fast, Frequently, with a Forward-looking focus on learning.

3. Review Your Pattern of Failure. Every now and then sit back and review at your list of failures as a whole and look for patterns.  Are there flaws in your decision-making processes?  Consider whether your failure rate is too high or too low?  If it is too high then maybe you need to add some more conservative team members who will help critically review options.  Or maybe you need to add more risk-takers if your failure rate is too low.  Without some failure, there will be limited learning and innovation.

If you practice these disciplines of engaging failure from a positive perspective you will improve your “Return on Failure” and make even more of a Mission Impact.

*J. Birkinshaw & M. Hass, “Increase Your Return on Failure,” Harvard Business Review, May 2016, pp. 90-93.

The theme of Manas’ message was “Now Let’s Go Fail.”  You can hear the entire speech at this link and fast forward to the 54 minute mark.

Some of the great thoughts and sound bites:

*Failure is not necessarily the opposite of success

*Failure and Success are “two points on the same learning curve”

*Failure can help accelerate success

*We should actively try and fail – this is a means to achieving and appreciating success

*When we embrace and understand failures, we can use the understanding to seize success

About a year ago I wrote this blog entitled “We Celebrate Noble Failure.”  But I like the way Manas says it even better.  We need to transform our relationship with failure if we are going to innovate and achieve even higher levels of Mission Impact for those we serve.

In a few weeks, Manas will start his new job with Teach for America in San Francisco where he will be teaching math to kids in the inner city.  I have no doubt that he will experience failures, but I am totally confident that he will be a great success – and those children he teaches will be the great beneficiaries of that success.  Good luck Manas!

In recent months,  The Chronicle of Philanthropy carried a cover story on innovation.  In that article, Amelia Franck Meyer, CEO of Anu Family Services in Hudson, WI was quoted as saying “We’re in an environment where it’s innovate or die.”  Wow.

Here are some recent thought-leadership sources for you to check out to learn more about innovation:

*A great TED Talk by Dan Pallota on how we need to rethink “charity.”

*Experts explain how leaders can spur innovation in The Wall Street Journal

*Fast Company’s annual listing of the 50 Most Innovation Companies

*Ten year anniversary articles on social innovation in Stanford Social Innovation Review

*Dr. Gary Hamel’s bi-weekly Management Innovation e-newsletter

The Smith School of Business at Maryland sponsored our annual Business Summit recently and the theme was “Innovation in an Uncertain Economy.”  I had the pleasure of moderating a rock star panel made of up Terri Freeman, President of the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region; Allison Fansler, CEO of KIPP DC Schools; Mike Curtin, CEO, DC Central Kitchen; Jatrice Martel Gaiter, EVP of External Affairs, Volunteers of America; and Greg Cantori, President of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

Each panelist had great examples of innovations in their organizations and the nonprofit world.  One of the main themes from the panel was the need for both funders and nonprofits to take more risks, to experiment, and to try new models of services.

Risk and experimentation are not new in the nonprofit world.  But in today’s environment, we need to do these things far more often if we are going to be truly innovative.  Here’s an example of the mindset at Nike, listed as this year’s Most Innovation Company by Fast Company:

“‘Really cool stuff can come from the opportunity to test without constraints.’  And that, in sum, is innovation, Nike-style: a messy, exhausting process culled from myriad options and countless failures.”

Risk, experimentation, and a tolerance for failure – they all lead to innovation and enhanced Mission Impact.  What’s your latest experiment?

Earlier this week, I had an article in The Washington Post also about goals.  You can check it out here.  The highlights:

If it’s time for you to set those once-a-year resolutions that you know will fade by March, then this article is not for you.

But if you are ready to make a long-term commitment to achieving higher levels of performance and having more satisfaction in life, then consider getting serious about goal-setting.

Effective goal-setting is a discipline based on well researched principles.  Ask yourself, do you want to use your time in ways that are more relevant – relevant to what you care about most in your life?  If so, then goal setting can put you on that path.

The first lesson is that you are probably not setting goals nearly enough.  You are probably barely scratching the surface.  To maximize performance you should consider setting long-term goals (e.g., five to 10 years) that you then break down into annual goals, quarterly goals, weekly goals, and even daily goals.  To truly maximize performance, you should do this for every important domain of your personal and work life.  This is based on one of the primary finding from the goal setting research.*

Goals direct attention and action toward relevant activities and away from non-relevant activities.

If you want to really start your new year off right, then follow these guidelines for effective goal setting:

*Set goals as outcomes – on what you really want, not the activities that may lead toward them.

*Make sure that all your goals are SMRT:  Specific, Measurable, Relevant, Time-Bound

*Use the right “A” in your SMART goal formula.  All goals need to be SMRT.  But to be SMART you need to pick the “A” that is right for your situation. Here are your options:

1. Attainable Goals, which you have an 80+% chance of accomplishing, are good if failing will have many negative consequences.  Attainable goals are good to build some momentum with easy wins, or to learn more about new environments, or if you are concerned about getting discouraged.
2. Aggressive Goals, which you have a 35% chance of accomplishing, will improve your performance.  Research shows that the more difficult the goal, the higher the level of performance.*  If you feel like you have a good system and you want to maximize performance of it, then this method will help you do it.
3. Almost Impossible Stretch Goals, which you have a 1% chance of accomplishing, will require you to design innovative ways of going about accomplishing your goal.  “Working harder” on the same process won’t do it.  You have an opportunity for breakthrough performance with Almost Impossible Stretch Goals.

*Celebrate Noble Failure.  If you are inspired to pursue a goal and you go for it, but you don’t make it all the way, then appreciate the progress you have made and appreciate that you worked hard at something you really cared about.  This mind-set will bring you more long-term success than letting the fear of failure keep you from doing what truly inspires you.

I provide more extensive detail on goal setting in the free e-book, The Power of Goals.  If you use these principles and apply them to your personal and work life then I promise you much higher levels of performance, fulfillment, and satisfaction.   But it only works if you take it on as a true, committed discipline – not a once a year fad.  Good luck with all of your goals!

*A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance, by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham

I met a corporate executive once who told me that one of her favorite sayings was “We celebrate noble failure.”  What would “noble failure” look like?

If we really care about something and we want to make a difference and we “go for it” – not irresponsibly, but enthusiastically – and we don’t fully achieve the goal, then I would call that a “noble failure.”

The problem is that we usually don’t “go for it” because we are afraid of failing.  This singular fear keeps us from making more of a difference and increasing our performance.  What we need to do is to shift our focus from whether or not we fully achieve an Aggressive or Almost Impossible Goal to our actual performance on the outcomes we are committed to.  It’s a tradeoff.  If we set bigger goals, the research is clear that we will have higher performance.*  But it also increases the risk of not making it all the way – of failing.  If we can focus more on our delight from increased performance and away from our distaste of failure, then that is transforming our relationship with failure.  I am not saying you have to “love” failure, but you have to at least tolerate it.

Of course, one of the wise reasons you avoid failure is that it is often followed by negative consequences.  Research shows that organizations are only effective using “stretch goals” if they have a “safe-fail” work environment.  If you don’t have that kind of environment where you work, then my advice is to keep setting small Attainable Goals – publicly, with your bosses, etc. – and then set Aggressive or Almost Impossible Goals that you keep to yourself.  You can be publicly successful and produce higher levels of performance.  I gave an example of this in my previous blog.

IBM’s Thomas Watson, Sr., once said “The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”

And management guru Tom Peters has said “there’s no substitute for getting smarter faster.  And the way you get smarter is to screw around vigorously.  Try stuff.  See what works.  See what fails miserably.  Learn.  Rinse.  Repeat.”

Transform your relationship with failure.  Learn to celebrate “noble failure.”  Get smarter faster and make even more of a Mission Impact.