Several years ago, Michael Jordan filmed a commercial that detailed the number and types of failures he experienced as he became one of the all time greats in professional basketball.  The failures included missed shots, clutch chokes, and turnovers.  He ended the commercial by declaring that “I have failed over and over again.  And that is why I succeed.”

From our perspective, what’s notable about MJ’s commercial is that he did not decide to end his career because he missed a potential game winning shot.  He used the missed shot as feedback to improve his performance.  That simple tweak of the imagination is what separates high performers from low performers; and it does not matter whether we talk about sports, business, or relationships.

The imagination has an impact on the way we envision failure and success.  Lately political parties have taken turns jabbing each other for the “failed policies of the past”.  We do that to ourselves as well; so when our “lose weight”, “stop smoking”, “better relationships at home and at work” resolutions and promises go unmet, many of us would view this as failure.

Thinking this way tends to sap energy; so if we are going to overcome a “failed” business or personal experience, we need a different set of eyes and ears.  A more effective approach might be to treat outcomes as “feedback” on what did or did not work quite the way we expected.

How could a difference in the words we use make a difference in our performance?  While words make up only 7% of our message – tonality and non-verbal cues make up 93% – the words we choose are important.  They create pictures for us, including some that are misleading, for example:

·         The largest accounting firms and mortgage bankers are too big to fail;

·         There is no reason not to build a nuclear facility atop a ground fault;

·         I am so clever that I will never get caught in my indiscretions;

·         The new economy based on dot.com will never go dot.broke; and,

·         Land values will always increase.

In each of the examples cited above, we got feedback that indicated the myths were just that.  Still, we ignored most of the signs and people saw things coming down around them.  Marriages, careers, and family relationships ended because people did not believe what good things they were involved in would ever come to an end.

So, what’s the moral from these examples?  Use what appears to be failure as “corrective feedback” to move you closer to your targeted goals, whatever they may be.