失败其实并不可怕

失败其实并不可怕

F•司各特•菲茨杰拉德(F. Scott Fitzgerald)曾经说过：“美国人的生命中没有第二幕。”为数众多的企业家、投资者和高管肯定希望他是在胡说。

在过去的18个月中，许多人身败名裂，涌现了许多轰动一时的解雇事件，大量企业宣告破产。我担心，在这个数字化的世界里，此类污名将被永远记录在案。

我们中间没有多少人能够毫发无损地避开这次经济衰退的打击——各种各样的

错误已经被大量曝光。因此我们都应该保持一种乐观的信念：这个世界比人们普遍认为的更为宽容。

失败后东山再起既困难又容易（后面一点有些奇怪）。困难是因为你的履历上有了污点；容易是因为如果你以前成功过，你就知道如何才能成功。尽管我们对遭受严重挫折的人持怀疑态度，但我们也对来之不易的经验表示尊敬。

F Scott Fitzgerald said: “There are no second acts in American lives.” An awful lot of entrepreneurs, investors and executives must hope he was talking nonsense.

The past 18 months have seen many reputations ravaged,

plenty of high-profile sackings and a lot of business failures. I am afraid that in this digital world, such blemishes are recorded for all time.

Not many of us will emerge entirely unscathed from the battering of this downturn –a great deal of mistakes of different sorts have been exposed. So we should all maintain an optimistic belief that the world is more forgiving than is commonly supposed.

Career comebacks from disaster are both difficult and, oddly, easy. Difficult because your record has been blighted; easy because if you have achieved triumphs before, you know how it's done. While we are suspicious of someone who has suffered a serious setback, we also respect hard-won experience.

Moreover, the doctrine of redemption is a central part of our culture. The idea that someone is an irredeemable loss seems incredibly brutal. Such a judgment feels as if it should be reserved for those who have been criminal, repeatedly negligent, or created damage on a grand scale.

Of course, society exalts management talent too much, so when the pendulum swings we relish having fallen leaders to blame. Those who rise to the

top are lavishly rewarded, and vilification for incompetence is part of the bargain. If you cannot stomach the risk, do not strive for high office.

When you dig deep into a CV, most reveal missteps – and some outright cock-ups. These negatives are rarely highlighted by the author, but I always prefer an interviewee who is honest when questioned about past errors, rather than evasive. Straightforward admission and an explanation of the lessons learnt appear to me the best policy. After all, we all know life is an imperfect affair. I am convinced that the world's mental hospitals are full of misguided souls who believed otherwise, and cannot cope with the messiness of reality. As Samuel Smiles said: “He who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”

Success often breeds arrogance; one of the benefits of defeat – and there aren't many – is that it tends to produce a humbler personality. Most of us are more rounded characters for having got things wrong. I read recently that executives should not consider their work done until they have tackled a turnround. Those who have overcome adversity are likely to be better equipped to deal with such challenges than someone who has sailed along without even a hiccup. A pummelling toughens you up, makes you fitter for the next engagement. And as long as you don't cave in to disappointment, recovery is always a possibility.

Big wins early on can be a curse. They may give you the impression that everything else is a downward trajectory. After all, no one wants to be labelled

a has-been.

One of the cures for this disease is the ability to adapt your expectations and reinvent yourself if the door has slammed shut on your first profession. There are many sorts of hero, and most of us have more than one skill. The danger of obsessive specialisation is that

if that field dies, where do you go? I hear of former financiers, fired from their bank and fed

up with the City, who are retraining as schoolteachers. Now that I admire.

Switching disciplines can be a tonic, but complete withdrawal from the fray must be avoided if you are to make progress. Action is the antidote to despair. Equally, self-pity is harmful. Focus instead on building a mutual support network, finding a new mission, and discovering ways to add value all across the waterfront.

Just as bankruptcies never happen just because of bad luck, so a rebound is not simply a matter of chance – it requires industry, motivation and