Thank you Hege! It really is, we need to stop stigmatizing failure as something to be avoided at all costs and instead embrace it for the lessons it can teach. Appreciate your thoughts!
You had to know I was going to be a fan of this one! We have quite a few big time brands that call Columbus home, but Jeni's is up there in the upper echelon when it comes to the Cbus brand royalty.
I'd add my local perspective to say that Jeni's (and Jeni herself) aren't just a recognized brand name, they really make an effort to be part of our local community and people know that. The amount of events they sponsor, put on themselves, or even just provide ice cream for is fantastic. I can't tell you the amount of times I've heard people debate attending a local event, but then someone says; "Jeni's will be there". It's a deciding factor. Not many brands can get people up off the couch, granted, they are an ice cream company, but still impressive.
Mack, I love the way you've framed failure not as the end of a story but as a critical plot twist that sets the stage for future success.
It’s all too easy to see failure as inherently negative, and sure, licking your wounds is part of the process. But once that's done, it's worth noting that we, as humans, are far better equipped to learn from failure than success.
I've noticed that success often blinds us to the deeper lessons because we assume the results are entirely due to our brilliance (or luck).
I've found that failure, on the other hand, grabs us by the collar and forces us to pay attention.
Maybe this is an evolutionary feature - after all, those who ignored risks probably didn’t stick around to pass on their genes!🙈😂
Jeni’s story really underscores how embracing failure can lead to transformative insights. The shift from “artist” to “entrepreneur” and from “product” to “experience” is powerful, and it’s a reminder that the stories we tell about our work can be just as important as the work itself.
What do you think is the best way for someone currently experiencing failure to identify the key lessons hidden within it?
Is it a matter of time and reflection, or do you see other strategies that can accelerate the process?
Damn you, Mack if we were playing poker, you’ve just trumped me with that comment!
Your point about failure and self-esteem hits home.
In my 20+ years of coaching, when working with the highly risk-averse, I’ve found one technique that eventually cracks the armour.
I just keep hammering the “What’s the worst that could happen?” button.
Trust me, it can take ages, but eventually, they come up with a risk so utterly bizarre that even they laugh at it.
That’s the turning point. Once they see how overblown their fear is, we can finally get real.
It’s like they have to unlearn their conditioning before they can even consider risk rationally.
For those of us lucky (or unlucky!) enough to have a childhood that forced us to be resilient, the challenge is almost the opposite - learning to rein ourselves in.
We’re so used to taking the hit and getting back up that we sometimes don’t pause to assess if the risk is actually worth it 🤦🏻♂️🚨🤷♂️🕺🤣.
Regardless, this is a conversation worth continuing - fancy doing a podcast on it sometime soon?
I reckon we’d have a lot to unpack, and maybe we’d even convince a few more people to get back on the horse.
Mark I like your strategy about pushing clients to focus on ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ and eventually they realize their fears are mostly overblown. As you know, people will stick with an idea more often if they come up with it themselves. So smart to ‘lead the horse to water’, as it were :).
Appreciate the podcast invite, I am DMing you now!
Well Mark, you officially left a comment that was better than the post itself! Wonderful thoughts, thanks so much for sharing. I recently wrote about ‘the comparison trap’, and scientific studies have found that when people tend to compare themselves against others, it’s due to self esteem issues. I wonder if taking failure as being some debilitating isn’t a self esteem issue as well? Or at least a self confidence issue. It seems that the people who view failure as crippling perceive it as ‘well that was my one shot at success’. And if you think about it, if that’s your mindset, it would likely also limit your desire to take a ‘risk’ in the first place.
On the other hand, I believe the people who embrace failure as something they occurs naturally are more willing to take the risk. They will try something and if it fails just accept it and get back on the horse. Now to be fail, many people are in a position, rather economically, emotionally etc where a failure has much greater implications. So I’m not sure what the answer is in terms of convincing more risk adverse people to embrace and accept failure. Thanks again Mark for giving me a LOT to think about!
Love business breakdowns like these! A lot of great lessons to learn, and the focus on customers is almost the 'baptism by fire' one that almost all business owners need to go through at some point (been there myself!).
Thanks Scott. I think we need to rethink the role of ‘failure’ in business. Or life in general. As long as you don’t quit, is it really a failure, or rather just a learning experience?
Always a learning experience! It's what I say to my team. Everything we do is, in many ways, just an ongoing experiment. Holding on to all business operations lightly and thinking about them as 'an experiment that just happens to demonstrate recurrent effectiveness' becomes an important habit to help us adapt and change.
Love this Mack! A powerful reminder that failure is a valuable part of success ✨
Thank you Hege! It really is, we need to stop stigmatizing failure as something to be avoided at all costs and instead embrace it for the lessons it can teach. Appreciate your thoughts!
You had to know I was going to be a fan of this one! We have quite a few big time brands that call Columbus home, but Jeni's is up there in the upper echelon when it comes to the Cbus brand royalty.
I'd add my local perspective to say that Jeni's (and Jeni herself) aren't just a recognized brand name, they really make an effort to be part of our local community and people know that. The amount of events they sponsor, put on themselves, or even just provide ice cream for is fantastic. I can't tell you the amount of times I've heard people debate attending a local event, but then someone says; "Jeni's will be there". It's a deciding factor. Not many brands can get people up off the couch, granted, they are an ice cream company, but still impressive.
Thanks for sharing!
Mack, I love the way you've framed failure not as the end of a story but as a critical plot twist that sets the stage for future success.
It’s all too easy to see failure as inherently negative, and sure, licking your wounds is part of the process. But once that's done, it's worth noting that we, as humans, are far better equipped to learn from failure than success.
I've noticed that success often blinds us to the deeper lessons because we assume the results are entirely due to our brilliance (or luck).
I've found that failure, on the other hand, grabs us by the collar and forces us to pay attention.
Maybe this is an evolutionary feature - after all, those who ignored risks probably didn’t stick around to pass on their genes!🙈😂
Jeni’s story really underscores how embracing failure can lead to transformative insights. The shift from “artist” to “entrepreneur” and from “product” to “experience” is powerful, and it’s a reminder that the stories we tell about our work can be just as important as the work itself.
What do you think is the best way for someone currently experiencing failure to identify the key lessons hidden within it?
Is it a matter of time and reflection, or do you see other strategies that can accelerate the process?
M
Damn you, Mack if we were playing poker, you’ve just trumped me with that comment!
Your point about failure and self-esteem hits home.
In my 20+ years of coaching, when working with the highly risk-averse, I’ve found one technique that eventually cracks the armour.
I just keep hammering the “What’s the worst that could happen?” button.
Trust me, it can take ages, but eventually, they come up with a risk so utterly bizarre that even they laugh at it.
That’s the turning point. Once they see how overblown their fear is, we can finally get real.
It’s like they have to unlearn their conditioning before they can even consider risk rationally.
For those of us lucky (or unlucky!) enough to have a childhood that forced us to be resilient, the challenge is almost the opposite - learning to rein ourselves in.
We’re so used to taking the hit and getting back up that we sometimes don’t pause to assess if the risk is actually worth it 🤦🏻♂️🚨🤷♂️🕺🤣.
Regardless, this is a conversation worth continuing - fancy doing a podcast on it sometime soon?
I reckon we’d have a lot to unpack, and maybe we’d even convince a few more people to get back on the horse.
Mark I like your strategy about pushing clients to focus on ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ and eventually they realize their fears are mostly overblown. As you know, people will stick with an idea more often if they come up with it themselves. So smart to ‘lead the horse to water’, as it were :).
Appreciate the podcast invite, I am DMing you now!
Well Mark, you officially left a comment that was better than the post itself! Wonderful thoughts, thanks so much for sharing. I recently wrote about ‘the comparison trap’, and scientific studies have found that when people tend to compare themselves against others, it’s due to self esteem issues. I wonder if taking failure as being some debilitating isn’t a self esteem issue as well? Or at least a self confidence issue. It seems that the people who view failure as crippling perceive it as ‘well that was my one shot at success’. And if you think about it, if that’s your mindset, it would likely also limit your desire to take a ‘risk’ in the first place.
On the other hand, I believe the people who embrace failure as something they occurs naturally are more willing to take the risk. They will try something and if it fails just accept it and get back on the horse. Now to be fail, many people are in a position, rather economically, emotionally etc where a failure has much greater implications. So I’m not sure what the answer is in terms of convincing more risk adverse people to embrace and accept failure. Thanks again Mark for giving me a LOT to think about!
I love your newsletter. I always learn something and get a new perspective and bigger picture! Thank you, Mack!
Thank you Mladena, you are one of the joys of being here for me. Have a wonderful weekend, my friend.
Love business breakdowns like these! A lot of great lessons to learn, and the focus on customers is almost the 'baptism by fire' one that almost all business owners need to go through at some point (been there myself!).
Thanks Scott. I think we need to rethink the role of ‘failure’ in business. Or life in general. As long as you don’t quit, is it really a failure, or rather just a learning experience?
Always a learning experience! It's what I say to my team. Everything we do is, in many ways, just an ongoing experiment. Holding on to all business operations lightly and thinking about them as 'an experiment that just happens to demonstrate recurrent effectiveness' becomes an important habit to help us adapt and change.