DON'T FEAR FAILURE! LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!

Last night I was enjoying Star Trek – The Next Generation, one of my favorite TV shows. I think I’ve seen every episode with Jean Luc Picard and crew over the years. For some reason, as I was resting on the couch, a particular scene caught my attention. Two of the show’s characters - “Lieutenant Commander Data” and “Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge” - ventured into the ship’s holodeck to reenact the fictional character Sherlock Holmes from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Data, who plays an android, frustrated LaForge because his positronic brain allowed him to compute things ahead so that he kept figuring out the story’s outcome within seconds which infuriated LaForge. The latter quickly exited the holodeck with Data soon to follow him wearing a facial expression of ‘what happened?’ The two characters then got into a discussion – witnessed by the ship’s Dr. Pulaski – in which LaForge complained that the fun is in the attempt to solve the mystery, not skip to the end.

Dr. Pulaski overhears the discussion and tries to counsel Data by saying: “To feel the thrill of victory, there has to be the possibility of failure”. She then added: “Data, there is some value in losing. We learn more from failure and our mistakes”.

That scene got me off the couch quickly and running around to find a post-it note and a pen. The words just stuck with me. Of course being in the sports business, I first thought about my coach. Thinking he’ll love this verbiage and more than likely use it for his players. Then, I was thinking about my staff and how I’m always trying to find that one motivational nugget. Wow, this could be the one! Thankfully, my wife had this one episode on DVR so I could replay the lines over and over!

What the Star Trek’s ship doctor said was so true when it comes to becoming a success in business and in life? Each of us has experienced that moment in time we wish we could wind the clock back and relive. I, for one, remember a time in my career when our hockey team’s game program arrived from the printer the day before the home opener and the page numbers were all omitted. It was a mistake we didn’t catch in the final blueline. It also messed up all of our PA announcements for this particular season when giving away prizes, etc. My GM gave me grief. Every year thereafter, I’ve never forgotten to proof the page numbers when we got to the final blueline.

Another time, we had our T-Shirt slingshot team on ice and there was a misfire going in the direction of the Zamboni Machine (that resurfaces the ice). The shirt went skidding down the ice towards the machine and got sucked in, thus forcing the Zamboni to break down LIVE on the ice in front of a full house. Not only did we delay the start of the next period but this error in judgment cost the club thousands! My boss screamed at me on behalf of the game staffer for 24 hours it seemed like. Never again have I ever permitted our promotional shooters to fire in the direction of the Zamboni when they have performed on ice since.

Two of my favorite quotes that deal with adversity come from Henry Ward Beecher: “One's best success comes after their greatest disappointments” and Zig Ziglar: “Others can stop you temporarily - you are the only one who can do it permanently”.



Jim Loria, Career Planning Expert for Sports Professionals
Email address: loria@sfstampede.com