Failure as a test of leadership

The study of leadership concentrates on success stories. When we look to great leaders of past and present, hoping to learn lessons from their achievements, we tend to examine the positive aspects of their careers. In fact, nearly all leaders encounter failure at some point.

One of the key tests of greatness in leaders, say Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward in their new book, is how they cope with adversity.

Yet the study of failure is often overlooked and, as it says in “Firing Back”: “When failure is studied in scholarly and popular literature, it tends to be matched with insights on avoidance of failure rather than in truly understanding its dynamic.”

As a result, a rich source of potential learning about leadership is ignored.

Failure can come at any time, even when leaders appear to be at the height of their powers.

It is crucial to understand this “dynamic of failure” -- not just to try to avoid it but to deal with it when it comes.

“Firing Back,” however, is not so much about failure as how to recover from it. This erudite and well-written book features interviews and case studies with hundreds of leaders who have fallen from grace but have managed to recover. Jeffrey Katzenberg, formerly of Walt Disney Co., John Mack of Morgan Stanley and Martha Stewart are featured.

Another example is Jimmy Carter, who failed to win reelection as U.S. president in 1980 but is now a respected humanitarian and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

So how does a leader whose career has been destroyed set about rebuilding? The authors first consider the barriers on the road to recovery.

Important among these is the “stigma of failure” common in American society and most Western societies. Failure is a personal as well as a professional matter, and failed leaders often feel humiliated in front of other people. Embarrassment often prevents them attempting a public career again.

Those who are prepared to venture out into the world again learn to their cost that modern corporate culture is driven by the need for success. They may find it hard to get a foot in the door.

To overcome those barriers, the authors offer a five-step plan.

The first step is to confront the failure and fight back. After he was fired from his senior post at Walt Disney in 1994, Katzenberg responded by defending himself vigorously in public to maintain his reputation.

Such a strategy can be risky. The authors cite the example of Jonathan Aitken, a former British government minister whose litigation ended in his own imprisonment for perjury. Fight, the authors say, but pick the right fight and make sure the facts are on your side.

The second step is to engage the support of allies. Friends and family can play a vital role -- and not just in recovering self-esteem and shaking off the sense of failure.

They can also help with the third step, revitalizing the leader’s image or, as the authors put it, “rebuilding heroic stature.”

Here the remarkable comeback story of Stewart is given as a case study. A steady publicity campaign that included testimonials from friends and supporters and her own open letters to fans led to the full recovery of the share price of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., even before she had finished her prison sentence.

Rebuilding trust and image are prerequisites for the fourth step, “proving your mettle.”

It is at this point that the leader relaunches his or her career, returning to the public eye and demonstrating that, in spite of past failures, he or she still has what it takes to be successful.

This is accompanied by the fifth step, the “rediscovery of heroic mission.” After his departure from the White House, Carter found a new purpose in his political, social and humanitarian work. As a president he may have disappointed, but his discovery of a new mission has made him respected and well regarded internationally.

There is perhaps a little too much use of the word “heroic” in this book, too much concentration on stature and greatness. Humility is a key virtue in a leader too.

Otherwise this is an excellent book -- not always comfortable reading but certainly essential for leaders and aspiring leaders in all walks of life.

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Morgen Witzel is a columnist for the Financial Times, in which this review first appeared.

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From the ashes

* “Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters”

* By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward

* Harvard Business School Press, $29.95, 320 pages

Source: Publisher

Los Angeles Times