What is the main message of Failing Forward?

The main message of Failing Forward is that failure is not the end, but a stepping stone to success.

Who is the author of Failing Forward?

The author of Failing Forward is John C. Maxwell.

Career & Success

Failing Forward Book Summary - Failing Forward Book explained in key points

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Failing Forward summary

Name: Failing Forward
Rating: 4.5 (242 reviews)
Author: John C. Maxwell

John C. Maxwell

Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones For Success

4.5 (242 ratings)

14 mins

Brief summary

Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell is a motivational book that presents failure as a steppingstone for success. It offers practical tips on how to adopt a positive mindset towards failures and transform them into opportunities for growth.

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Leadership Learning Success

Table of Contents

Failing Forward
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Learn how to embrace your failures to become successful.

The world these days is a competitive place where success is the only currency that counts. Failure, which is usually considered the opposite of success, or even an obstacle on the road to it, is seen as a something to be avoided at all costs.

But are our failures always such disasters? Not necessarily – and it may well be time to review our opinions about failure as a concept.

Contrary to popular belief, failure actually isn’t the opposite of success, but rather a necessary part of it. Failure doesn’t need to be avoided. Instead, it should be embraced, because we can learn from it and become stronger in the future as a result.

In these blinks, you will learn why failure can be a good thing. You will see why failure is an opportunity, what it can teach you and how you can overcome it. Learning to fail today will help you be successful tomorrow.

You’ll also learn

how a marketing debacle paved the way for Coca-Cola’s greatest success;
how the experience of failure led Thomas Edison to develop the world’s first recording device; and
why Peanuts cartoon character Charlie Brown shouldn’t be a role model.

Failure can’t be avoided, so think of it as a critical part of moving forward.

While most of us do our best to avoid failure, most entrepreneurs know better. The majority of successful businesspeople attribute their success to their ability to persevere after failures. In fact, it takes entrepreneurs an average of 3.8 failed ventures before they manage to start a successful business.

These entrepreneurs recognize that even if their business eventually fails, they’ll be in a better position than they were when they started. But if their fear of failure had stopped them at the beginning, they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.

In the real world, a single failure doesn’t always mean the end of the road. Take Sergio Zyman, a marketing executive for Coca-Cola in the 1980s. When Zyman launched the new Diet Coke range, it was hugely popular.

This success bolstered Zyman’s standing in the company and gave him more confidence in his daring ideas. So later, when Coca-Cola wanted to introduce a new formula for Coke, Zyman proposed to introduce it under the name “New Coke.” Zyman believed the new idea would sell so well that he convinced Coca-Cola to stop producing the old version.

To Zyman’s surprise, New Coke was a complete flop. The rebranded bottles failed to sell, costing Coca-Cola approximately $100 million, and Zyman his job. To recover from this blow, Coca-Cola reintroduced their flagship drink under a new name: Coca-Cola Classic.

As it turned out, Coca-Cola Classic was a huge hit. The drink became more popular than ever, and Zyman’s failure to transform the brand in the first instance ended up leading to a great success for the company in the long run. In 1993, Coca-Cola chairman Roberto Goizueta rehired Zyman, acknowledging that daring thinkers can’t be right every time.

Failure opens up new opportunities.

While we largely assume failure can only lead to negative outcomes, the opposite is often true. Many chance discoveries and new opportunities have emerged from failures. This was certainly the case for legendary inventor Thomas Edison.

Edison worked for years to improve the telegraph machine, with little success. But along the way, he discovered something else entirely. By making certain adjustments to his failed telegraph machines, he was able to record sound that could be played back again and again.

You might not be to blame for your failures, but you are responsible for your successes.

Most of the time, failures occur as a result of factors that we can’t control. When that happens, we don’t need to blame ourselves, we just need to take responsibility for finding new solutions.

The author recounts the story of his friend, Greg Horn, whose supermarket was destroyed in the 1997 Kentucky floods. Ironically, Horn was insured for almost every type of damage and theft – except flood damage.

Turning failure into knowledge is instrumental to success.

Could you imagine starting a new project and aiming to fail? Probably not; most of us prefer to avoid making mistakes. And yet, failure always has the potential to create instructive, even inspiring, learning experiences.

The power of embracing failure is illustrated poignantly in an anecdote from David Bayles and Ted Orland’s 1993 book Art and Fear: a ceramics teacher divides her class in two and tells one half that they’ll be graded on the quantity of art they make, and so should make as many pieces as they can. The other half are told to focus on creating one piece, the quality of which will determine their grade.

Overcoming our fear of failure and taking new risks brings long-term success.

When you drive across town, how often do you catch only green lights? Probably never, but that’s alright – it’s just a part of driving. How might life be if we saw our failures as red lights? They might stop us temporarily, but they aren’t a reason to give up on our destination.

Failure can feel very discouraging, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Fear of failure is debilitating and can damage our chances of achieving success, so it’s crucial that we fight it at every opportunity.

To make the most of opportunities for success, you need clear goals, social skills and a positive mindset.

Learning to embrace and overcome failure opens up new opportunities for success. But to be able to use these opportunities, you’ll need to practice three things: goal-setting, people skills and a positive mindset.

American writer Don Marquis noted that while most people don’t truly know what they want, they’re still willing to sweat blood to get it. The trick to success is channeling this desire for change into well-defined objectives. So, rather than simply complaining that you’re tired of working, set goals that’ll allow you to create a better lifestyle. For example, you could invest in property to create a passive income that’ll allow you to retire sooner.

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What is Failing Forward about?

Failing Forward (2000) provides a positive perspective on failure. These blinks draw on legendary success stories and literary anecdotes to explain the importance of failure, the advantages of embracing it and the power of leveraging your mistakes to stimulate personal growth.

Failing Forward Review

Failing Forward (2000) by John C. Maxwell is a book that explores the idea of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It provides practical strategies for reframing failure and using it as a catalyst for personal growth and development.
With its inspiring stories and examples of successful individuals who have turned their failures into opportunities, the book encourages readers to adopt a positive mindset towards setbacks.
By emphasizing the importance of perseverance and learning from mistakes, the book empowers readers to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

Best quote from Failing Forward

Your attitude toward failure determines your altitude after failure.

—John C. Maxwell

Who should read Failing Forward?

Creative professionals struggling to take risks in their work
Perfectionists looking for new ways to accept and interpret their mistakes
Ambitious readers curious about the role of failure in success

About the Author

John C. Maxwell is a professional leadership trainer, author and speaker. He wrote several best-selling books on leadership and founded a string of companies teaching organizational development.

Categories with Failing Forward

Career & Success Management & Leadership

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