You know, nobody enjoys to think that they might fail. A leader though, should not even think about it. Still, in the real world, you should know that if you want to grow as an individual, failure is something that you go through and learn from. If failure is followed by insight and thought, you can grow and learn from it.

When there is recession, in times when businesses are closing and a lot of people lose their jobs, you should find ways that are less traditional, which allow you to perform better, both as an organization and as an individual. With the economy being as it is right now, you have a great opportunity to think over and re-evaluate yourself as an organization and an individual.

You can take NASA as an example, and their Sputnik experience. Once Sputnik was launched by the Soviets, NASA really kicked it off and scrambled to get back on track. The first rockets they launched without people crashed and burned. Still, they continued to work on it and eventually they were the first to step foot on the moon.

If you want to make sure you’ll regroup once you failed:

• Find perspective. Find out the failures of the past, like the early blunders that NASA made, or Edison’s and Bell’s disappointments. Your workers should be reminded that on the road towards success you will find failure.
• Examine the lessons. What I like about failure is the fact that it teaches you lessons. Remind yourself in the future, about the lessons that you learned.
• You should recognize the contributions of others. A lot of your workers have put as much hard work in that failure as you did. Their efforts should be praised and recognized.
Think about the successes of the future, learn the lessons of your failures and keep working.