FailSmart - the secret to success

Failure and leadership when taken together may seem an oxymoron. But they together form the crux of any credible organisation and are fundamental to success.

As Prakash 'PK' Menon - one of the world's most influential thought leaders and author of multiple books - says it's his phenomenal success and immense failure that has made him who he is.

Delivering the keynote at the Stanton Chase Leadership Transition Programme held at Dubai Marina this week, with over 150 C level executives in attendance, PK shared his insights to be the game changer.

Failure is the foundation to success, he said, before shredding reasons to why leaders fail and shedding light on how to identify motivation and strength, among others.

And one of the basic reasons is the VUCA [Volatile; Uncertain; Complex and Ambiguous] world that we live in, which stresses us out.

In fact, organisations battle to retain top talent, and three prime reasons why people leave are because they do not find self-directed learning; they find no sense of belonging and they yearn to leave a legacy.

PK also cleared a common myth - it is not an employer's market but an employee's market. Especially so today - in this age of ideas when information is in our palms - it's important to position ourselves as authority. It's crucial to be known and be known to know something. And to capture our expertise we need to read, focus and re-direct our energy, perspective, have clarity and adapt, to begin with.

Those who do that are the people who "make things happen", else you will be left wondering "as to what happened". The former lot are fearless, said PK, as they acknowledge that fearlessness is not the absence of fear. Instead when they fail, they take it as fuel and resurge. They simply fail smart.

In his book, 'FailSmart' - which was re-launched at the event - PK speaks about making successful transitions in life by embracing failure with intelligence.

A retail supply chain expert; inspiring mentor, trainer and professional speaker, PK is also a partner at Stanton Chase in the Middle East, responsible for leadership transition across the region.
 

 

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