All of us fail. Absolutely no one is exempt from failure.
It’s also true that while we excuse or spiritualize our own shortcomings, we look at and judge the failures of others with a much more critical spirit.
As leaders, we have an incredible opportunity to influence and even empower others by sharing moments of failure. Great failures are, after all, part of many great success stories.
Most of us are familiar with The Hershey Company. Hershey chocolate bars are an essential part of every camping trip. Bowls filled with Hershey kisses grace thousands of our homes. Today, The Hershey Company employs over 13,000 men and women and produces 80 million Hershey kisses in a single day!
But did you know that before becoming an incredible success, Milton Hershey started three other candy ventures—each of them ending in failure? Many of us, after watching our first or even second venture fail, would probably give up and move on to something else. Yet, as Milton Hershey proved, failure, if used wisely, can propel us to greater heights.
Luke Kuepfer, one of our master trainers, shared a short video message on failure and how Jesus, the greatest leader of all time, dealt with the failure of His own teammates. Luke gave us wonderful insights into Jesus’ leadership in moments of failure and showed us how a true servant-leader should respond to the failures of others.
Here is a powerful quote from Luke’s message:
“We all experience failure, and we all love to be graciously forgiven and move forward. Unfortunately, we commonly judge others’ weaknesses by our strengths rather than measuring them according to our shortcomings…. We all want a free pass when it’s our huge mistake.”
