- March 10, 2025
I was a young man just out of undergraduate school. I had beeen hired by an international company. My manager was a true mentor and adviser who rarely took credit for his accomplishments and was quick to acknowledge mine.
His most profound advice came after I admitted that I was afraid I did not have the experience to properly administer a certain task.
His advice: “Never be afraid to fail! Failing is only a way of learning. As long as you are sincere, work hard, learn and improve, it leads to success. The real failure is not trying! I have had many failures in my life, but never giving up allowed me to succeed at my career, form my own companies and become a mentor.”
I later learned a fable that put it in perspective: The enormous size, strength and intelligence of a circus-trained elephant is absolutely impressive.
When not performing, the elephant is secured with a small chain and iron stake in the ground. It could easily pull the stake and walk around freely. Yet it never does. When it was small and inexperienced, it tried to pull the stake, but failed each time. As it grew, it assumed it could not move away and stopped trying.
Probably a good outcome for the circus handler, but not so much for the elephant!
