Failing Up

Some of our best and the brightest…

The monthly jobless report came out again this week and the picture was bleak enough to flatten the earlier upward movement of the markets. Double-digit unemployment…ten point two percent…not since Reagan was well into his second year had we had this many of our citizens standing in line or looking for jobs. And many of those standing outside looking in are us…journalists, agency types, marcom pros, PR practitioners, and even whole small firms just not able to withstand the tightened or withdrawn budgets or credit squeeze. And while I’m enough of an optimist to believe that I see a faint glow at the end of this nightmarish tunnel, it still is a personal tragedy for those directly among the “jobless.”

But then I read a piece in the Sunday NY Times and was reminded again that sometimes real positive growth comes from being forced to re-evaluate our circumstances of employment…nice way of saying, “being canned.” Or, as the Times puts it, “The Benefit of a Boot Out the Door.” In the column, Jeffrey Katzenberg, elaborates on how his forced departure from Disney “fueled him to get on…etc.” Hey, I recognize that most of us that get laid off or fired, do so without the warm fuzzies of a Disney multimillion-dollar severance package to help us cope. But the point that being fired, whether from a seven-figure position or twelve-buck an hour job, is not necessarily always a bad thing…and good things can actually come of it.

Before someone out there says, “sure, easy for Mr. CEO to say,” it’s best for me to come clean. I’ve been fired, terminated, laid off, and generally just jobless on not just a couple of occasions, but several. And I’d like to believe that each time I’ve learned something about myself, and others. I also learned that losing your job whether self inflicted or not, is only failure if you fail to grow from it. I had a boss once, a man that had started three companies with the first two ending upside down…the third, highly successful. He believed strongly that only those that have tasted failure were worthy of employment consideration. His reasoning was that sooner or later most of us will stumble and fall, and he wanted to surround himself with those that had that out of their system and had grown accordingly.


I’m not sure I would go that far, but I certainly understand his thinking. My hobby is motorcycling and I must admit I prefer riding with those that have respect for the inherent dangers of the sport and ride accordingly. And more often than not, this respect is gained through a close call or even an accident…’going down’ as we say. The same can be said for a business enterprise…be it a news organization, corporation, or agency. Having a couple of close calls or even a job loss on your resume’ can be a positive…if you can demonstrate how you’ve grown from the experience and gained respect for the warning signs moving forward.

Yes, some may skate through life perfectly attuned to success and never be bothered with life’s annoying little stumbles…never being tested by a touch or two of failure and self-doubt. But come on, how many people really fit this description, and those that do…do you really trust them…or even like them? Me…I prefer to see a few scars on my associates and employees. To me, these are by far the best and the brightest.