Successful people are those who have failed at something, or at many different things, but instead of letting the failure paralyze them, they take the opportunity to grow and learn from it.

Leaders often take risks, and at times the chances are worth it, and other times, sometimes they are not worth it. However, you must remain positive and driven to push through all that you are faced with.

Developing the right attitude and learning from failure is essential to be a great leader personally and professionally.

What leaders learn by failing:

Failure encourages us to keep pushing forward.

Failure teaches us that it's only temporary and not fatal.

Failure brings out our strengths.

Failure teaches us to be adaptable and flexible.

Failure reminds us to refocus.

Failure reminds us that it does not define you.

Failure teaches us to remove the emotion from the outcome.

In January of this year, I interviewed for a potential speaking opportunity, that was supposed to take place in downtown Nashville.  After talking with the organization, I thought I was going to get this opportunity, as I felt I did an excellent job with the interview process.  After a week, the organization got back to me and informed me that they decided to go with another keynote speaker, that they felt it was a better fit.  After experiencing defeat, instead of getting mad or frustrated I merely asked the organization this one question.  Could you give me some feedback that could help me as I continue to pursue other speaking opportunities?  The organization emailed me back and said “Marques, you are an amazing speaker.  We just feel your presentation would be a better fit for our sales team.  That’s all!”

So even though I failed at getting this particular speaking job, I did not allow that failure to “derail” me in any way.  I used the overall experience to help me become a better speaker, by learning to ask clients for feedback, instead of getting mad or pout that I did not get that particular job!  Next time you experience some sort of failure in your life, don’t let it ruin your day.

Learn from it, grow from it, and move on to pursue your vision with ambition, drive, and most importantly hard work!!!

Marques Ogden, Keynote Speaker