Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Richard Branson on Embracing Failure
By Richard Branson
Q: I have always been fearless, and gone after everything I wanted. I launched a business selling my designs a few years ago, and it succeeded, but I had to close it due to the recession. Now, having just earned a master’s degree, I have decided to launch my own design firm rather than look for a job, and for the first time in my life I find that I am paralysed with fear. How can I face down this fear in order to go after my dreams?
Fear is something everyone must learn to cope with when tackling life’s challenges, but this is especially important for entrepreneurs, who are likely to face many hard choices in the process of getting a business off the ground. And in the early stages of running a new enterprise, the way you handle pressure can often make the difference in whether it survives.
You may need to make some tough calls. During Virgin’s early years, one difficult decision we had to make involved Virgin Records, which at one point was in desperate need of cash to sign bigger artists.
My partners, Nik Powell and Simon Draper, were split on what to do: Nik wanted to conserve our resources and slowly collect money through our retail operations; Simon wanted to invest heavily in Virgin Records, betting on the notion that we could find the next big artists that way. We needed quick growth, so I took the riskier gamble, following Simon’s advice over Nik’s. It turned out to be the right decision, but it took a lot of courage – and not just from me, but everyone on staff.
I’ve always found that the first step in overcoming fear is figuring out exactly what you’re afraid of. In your case, I wonder: Is your anxiety a reflection of doubts about your business plan? Or is it rooted in your experience with your previous venture?
If it is the former, and you are having doubts about your idea, why not take your concerns to a key friend or mentor and carefully run through your business plan?
Talking everything through with a trusted confidant, from your business’ unique selling points to how it will stand out among competitors, is a good way to help calm fears and give you some perspective and confidence. Sometimes even the simple act of discussing your plan will highlight things you’re unsure about – often, small, unresolved issues can be at the root of an entrepreneur’s anxieties.
But if your previous venture’s end is what is making you so hesitant, try to take some comfort in the fact that most entrepreneurs fail when they launch their first businesses. Failing doesn’t mean that you’re not cut out to run your own business.
In fact, many venture capital investors evaluate potential partners on how they reacted to a failed business, seeing it as a test of character, rather than a mark against them. The key to bouncing back is to learn whatever lessons you can from the experience so that you can avoid making the same mistakes in the next launch. This will help you to overcome your fear, take a leap of faith and try again.
The experience of launching one of your first businesses reminds me of the adventures and challenges I have embarked on over the years to promote Virgin and put our businesses on the map. There were countless times during our record-breaking hot-air balloon trips when I wondered whether we were going to make it back down to earth alive. But every time, I learned lessons from making mistakes during previous trips and was able to adapt.
Another example: A few years ago I was helping to launch Virgin America’s new route from San Francisco to Las Vegas – and upon arriving at our casino hotel, I was taken to the top floor, given a harness and told I was going to jump off the side of the building.
It was dark and windy, and I knew I should go back inside and tell everyone we needed to postpone the jump. Instead, I was persuaded to go through with it. The wind was up, and within seconds I found myself banging down the side of the building, ripping my trousers and bruising my backside.
It was an extremely painful lesson, learned the hard way. But learning from mistakes (and a combination of good fortune and adrenalin) is what has gotten me through on many occasions.
Overcoming fear is not necessarily as easy as jumping off a building, but it might be easier than what you’ve done: Watching a business fail after putting your heart and soul into trying to make it succeed. But don’t be too hard on yourself.
Starting a new enterprise from scratch and gathering the nerve to take risks that are similar to those you took last time can be daunting for any entrepreneur. Just remember that picking yourself up from a failed business in order to try again is the bravest choice you can make.
Have you had a business fail? What did you learn from the experience? Let us know in the comment section below…
Q: I have always been fearless, and gone after everything I wanted. I launched a business selling my designs a few years ago, and it succeeded, but I had to close it due to the recession. Now, having just earned a master’s degree, I have decided to launch my own design firm rather than look for a job, and for the first time in my life I find that I am paralysed with fear. How can I face down this fear in order to go after my dreams?
Fear is something everyone must learn to cope with when tackling life’s challenges, but this is especially important for entrepreneurs, who are likely to face many hard choices in the process of getting a business off the ground. And in the early stages of running a new enterprise, the way you handle pressure can often make the difference in whether it survives.
Making tough decisions
You may need to make some tough calls. During Virgin’s early years, one difficult decision we had to make involved Virgin Records, which at one point was in desperate need of cash to sign bigger artists.
My partners, Nik Powell and Simon Draper, were split on what to do: Nik wanted to conserve our resources and slowly collect money through our retail operations; Simon wanted to invest heavily in Virgin Records, betting on the notion that we could find the next big artists that way. We needed quick growth, so I took the riskier gamble, following Simon’s advice over Nik’s. It turned out to be the right decision, but it took a lot of courage – and not just from me, but everyone on staff.
I’ve always found that the first step in overcoming fear is figuring out exactly what you’re afraid of. In your case, I wonder: Is your anxiety a reflection of doubts about your business plan? Or is it rooted in your experience with your previous venture?
Face your fears
If it is the former, and you are having doubts about your idea, why not take your concerns to a key friend or mentor and carefully run through your business plan?
Talking everything through with a trusted confidant, from your business’ unique selling points to how it will stand out among competitors, is a good way to help calm fears and give you some perspective and confidence. Sometimes even the simple act of discussing your plan will highlight things you’re unsure about – often, small, unresolved issues can be at the root of an entrepreneur’s anxieties.
But if your previous venture’s end is what is making you so hesitant, try to take some comfort in the fact that most entrepreneurs fail when they launch their first businesses. Failing doesn’t mean that you’re not cut out to run your own business.
In fact, many venture capital investors evaluate potential partners on how they reacted to a failed business, seeing it as a test of character, rather than a mark against them. The key to bouncing back is to learn whatever lessons you can from the experience so that you can avoid making the same mistakes in the next launch. This will help you to overcome your fear, take a leap of faith and try again.
Learn from the experience
The experience of launching one of your first businesses reminds me of the adventures and challenges I have embarked on over the years to promote Virgin and put our businesses on the map. There were countless times during our record-breaking hot-air balloon trips when I wondered whether we were going to make it back down to earth alive. But every time, I learned lessons from making mistakes during previous trips and was able to adapt.
Another example: A few years ago I was helping to launch Virgin America’s new route from San Francisco to Las Vegas – and upon arriving at our casino hotel, I was taken to the top floor, given a harness and told I was going to jump off the side of the building.
It was dark and windy, and I knew I should go back inside and tell everyone we needed to postpone the jump. Instead, I was persuaded to go through with it. The wind was up, and within seconds I found myself banging down the side of the building, ripping my trousers and bruising my backside.
It was an extremely painful lesson, learned the hard way. But learning from mistakes (and a combination of good fortune and adrenalin) is what has gotten me through on many occasions.
Get back on the horse
Overcoming fear is not necessarily as easy as jumping off a building, but it might be easier than what you’ve done: Watching a business fail after putting your heart and soul into trying to make it succeed. But don’t be too hard on yourself.
Starting a new enterprise from scratch and gathering the nerve to take risks that are similar to those you took last time can be daunting for any entrepreneur. Just remember that picking yourself up from a failed business in order to try again is the bravest choice you can make.
Have you had a business fail? What did you learn from the experience? Let us know in the comment section below…
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Decision-Making 101: How to Be Productive About Regret
We cannot, for example, avoid regretting losing out on opportunities that were almost in our grasp. Recall gymnast McKayla Maroney’s crestfallen face at the London Olympics after winning a silver medal – an image that went so viral, it inspired President Obama to tweet a picture with her in the same “I am not impressed” pose.
Why did Maroney feel so bad? Research shows that for silver medalists, it is a case of “too close, yet too far.” What is true for athletes is true for entrepreneurs – especially those who were locked in close finishes or were working on opportunities that became big. For them, regrets are not only unavoidable – they are expected.
In a study at Syracuse University that was recently published in Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, my co-authors and I examined these issues at some length. Several entrepreneurs in our study reported regrets along the lines of: “I failed to launch an idea due to a personal setback. Now I get emotional when I see so many players in my space.” Can we really avoid regretting missed opportunities? And is it even necessary?
Regret isn’t always a bad thing
Regrets do not necessarily stop us from acting. Quite the opposite. Regretting smartly prepares us for the future. How many times has someone told you: “I wish I had not wasted my time on X” or “I should have done Y more wisely”? These regretful thoughts could potentially be used to deconstruct failures into meaningful scenarios for learning and growth.
Many people also use regrets to feel better about their situation by imagining how it could have been even worse. Imagine if you were speeding in your car to deliver your bid for a contract and got into an accident. You might find yourself saying, “Thank God I am alive,” and, yet, of course, you would still regret the lost opportunity.
That is exactly how many cancer survivors find solace, according to research. Sometimes, it is comforting just to have an opportunity to start all over again.
Learn from regret
The question then is not whether entrepreneurs should regret or not, but rather how they should be productive about such feelings. If you are going to be an entrepreneur, you better have loads of self-confidence. In the aforementioned study, we found entrepreneurs with high self-esteem learned from regretful thoughts and were more likely to retry and be successful, while those with low self-esteem tended to feel inhibited.
The road to entrepreneurial success is paved with failures, and there will be plenty of them all along the way. Most people do not succeed on their first or even second attempts, and even successful ventures emerge from a recurring cycle of mistakes and rejection.
One effective way to deal with regrets is to break problems into bite-sized chunks. For example, instead of berating yourself with blanket statements like “I am no good,” try generating specific alternative scenarios detailing what could have gone wrong. Perhaps, it was as simple as not knowing how to manage cash flows. This approach will help you learn and grow, rather than dwelling on what went wrong.
Remind yourself of past successes
Use your good days to build a reservoir of self-belief and determination despite the obstacles of the inevitable bad days. The simplest way to do this is to remind yourself of past successes anytime you think of a failure. Sit down with a blank piece of paper and write down your top five successes.
Search your email for kind notes from customers praising your work. Seek out mentors or friends who believe in you and can remind you why you got involved in the business in the first place. Look back only to learn what you must to move forward. And remember, in the end, as Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, you are right.”
By Reneurmag
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Although you probably won’t be able to build your tradecraft chops at the CIA, entrepreneurs can pick up a few lessons from the intelligence community. I’ve interviewed a number of human intelligence specialists and gathered five key ways you can step up your leadership skills, spy-style.
1. Get hooked up with insiders.
Intelligence assets are just as important in business as they are in espionage. Field agents are often judged by their ability to tap into people who divulge important information. Entrepreneurs need to be equally skilled at building their list of insider connections.
Find the synergy between your objectives and those of valuable potential connections. Discover shared interests to build strategic relationships. The most motivated contacts are those who believe in a higher purpose or have a bigger vision. Explain how helping you helps them achieve their ideas for a better future.
2. Learn to read people’s faces.
Observational skills help spies assess threats and recognise opportunities – especially when it comes to body language. Entrepreneurs should also become keenly aware of body language in meetings and conversations.
Pay attention to which phrases elicit an engaged response – leaning forward, widening eyes, raised eyebrows, subtle nodding of the head, a flash of a smile. These are signals that you have tapped into key points that align with a person’s values and beliefs.
Also, be on the lookout for phrases or even names that elicit a negative or disengaged response – leaning back, narrowing of the eyelids, crinkling of the nose or a protruding jaw.
3. Stay cool, calm and collected.
The success of an operation can depend on a spy’s ability to keep cool in extremely high-pressure situations. As a leader, you too, need to maintain your composure. During stressful times, your team looks to you for leadership. A frantic leader results in a frantic workforce.
When you are under high levels of stress, bring your attention to your breath. Shallow breathing can result in increased body tension. Focus on taking deep, comforting, full breaths to release the anxiety building up.
Jittery movements are also associated with nervousness – tapping a pen on the desk, rattling legs underneath the table or pacing back and forth. Convey confidence with stillness. Full breaths and stillness can have a very calming effect for you and those around you.
4. Venture outside your comfort zone on purpose.
Field operatives find themselves in a wide variety of places, surrounded by all kinds of people. They have to be comfortable in any situation.
Entrepreneurs have to be just as versatile and flexible. One of the best ways to find inspiration, solve a problem or stretch your limits, is to actively put yourself outside your comfort zone.
The next time a curveball is thrown your way, you’ll be more capable of adapting.
5. Sharpen your memory.
Remembering massive amounts of detailed information is important in the intelligence community. One piece of intel could be critical to an operation. Even though entrepreneurs aren’t committing complex codes to memory, improving one’s memory skills can be beneficial. Remembering names of people, their influential triggers, and dynamics among key players can help you land bigger business deals.
Let’s use remembering names as an example.If I meet someone named Carey, I’ll probably think of a blood-soaked dress. Skylar makes me think of a lark in the sky. Dan I would associate with tan skin – bonus if he actually does have a tan. And so forth.
The memory palace is another great technique, especially for remembering important business numbers or even a speech. With this skill, you visualise your home or any location. As you imagine walking from room to room, you attach important information with scenes or images.
Think like a CIA agent and you might find you’re more attentive, better connected, calmer and ready to tackle the challenge of running your business.
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