✒ Few careers go unblemished, and big mistakes aren’t always terminal.
A decadelong study of 2,600 business leaders, published by the Harvard Business Review in 2018, found that 45% had suffered major setbacks such as blowing a large deal or getting fired. Among those who faltered, more than three-quarters still went on to become CEOs.
A common thread among the examples that the author cited: massive confidence, or at least, the ability to overcome self-doubt.
For overachievers, the steepest cost of failure is not financial. As Jeff Cohn, a corporate-leadership adviser says about major career setbacks:
“Psychologically, it can be the kind of thing that is so devastating that it could rip your entire career apart. It really depend on how you deal with it.”
Always ask:
“What happened?”
“What could you have done differently?”
Remember:
The ability to take responsibility is the key to recovering.