Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
August 2018
- When This Executive Was Fired, He Took Charge
- Obeying The Speed Limit Has Never Been More Fun
- London Black Cabs Helped Uber Grow
- Bette Graham Created A Product To Fix Her Mistakes
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Had An Interesting Start
July 2018
- Fear This Instead Of Failure
- Re-Releasing Songs Created Success
- A CEO's Purposeful Mistake
- The Tardy Student And The Unsolvable Problem
- Fixing Potholes Through Graffiti
June 2018
- A Surprising Mistake In The Oxford English Dictionary
- US Army Embraces Mistakes
- Blocking A Hymn
- Eddie Shore Was Truly A Tough Guy
- [Video] Elon Musk Didn't "Pivot" He Failed
May 2018
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness Part 2
- Necessity Turned Accessory: Allen Iverson's Sleeve
- This Doctor Has Continued To Fail
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness
- MIT Accidentally Creates New Smelting Process
April 2018
- Johnny Cash Quit Singing Lessons
- Cruise Control Came Out of Frustration
- Time Spent Gaming Pays Off In The Navy
- Rock Around The Clock Was a Commercial Failure
- Sigmund Freud Should Have Been Discouraged
March 2018
Problems or Challenges
Janet Laane Effron absolutely believes in the importance problems. In fact, she’s not too interested in sugar coating them with the euphemism “challenges.”
In a recent blog post, Effron writes:
When did “Problem” become a dirty word?
In a business conversation, anyone who utters the “P” word is likely to be shut-down with the statement that “there are no ‘problems’ there are ‘challenges’”.
…
Another problem with relabeling ties into the cultural source of relabeling as a concept. People whose work has real, direct results have less problem using “strong words”. By strong words I don’t mean the kind that would have gotten your mouth washed out with soap by mom, I mean the kind that will get you a dressing down by your supervisor (and possibly lead to professional ‘learning opportunities’ for you).
If your work has a direct, observable function (be that as a farmer, or as a NASA engineer) you are fine with calling a failure a ‘failure’. The fact that you will learn from your failures is a given; it’s part of the job, so obvious that you need not mention it. You call problems problems, and then you go solve them.
Make sense, right? Here are some NASA types, actually admitting they have a problem and figuring out how to solve it:
Photo © audioboo.fm
Her full post is fantastic. Ultimately, failure is the secret to success. We need to make mistakes, and trying to soften up our problems by using fake words will only make it harder to actually address the issue.
Call a spade a spade and a failure a failure. Being brutally honest with yourself is crucial to improvement.
