We're Only Human: How Sharing Failures Makes you a Better Leader

First, let me start with a very simple truth - everyone f**ks up.

Mistakes equal growth. They force us to put our actions and behavior under the microscope and honestly evaluate. We stop to examine how we got here and what we can do to make sure it never happens again.

At least...that's how it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, we don't always know how to fail well. So sometimes, instead of going through the necessary introspection, we simply blame ourselves and become demoralized. In these cases, the trauma of failing becomes so strong that we don't even want to think about it!

The tragedy of this, is that we waste the only positive that could come from an epic screw up - the learning. That's why as a leader, it's important to recognize and short circuit these pointless, unproductive thought processes in yourself and your team.

So how do we make sure that failures are transformed into valuable learning opportunities? Easy - we make an effort to share our own cringe worthy stories of failure.

Sharing the story of that time you messed up REAL bad is a great way to help someone move past the trauma of their own failure. When you focus not just on your mistake, but on what you learned and how you changed - your failure suddenly becomes what it actually was: a defining moment in your life and career.

Once you help someone move past the awful feelings that inevitably follow a big screw up, they can begin to separate the event from the emotions and start to reflect on what they learned from the experience.

So no matter how embarrassing, don't be afraid of sharing your failures. It will make you a better leader.