Why We Should Share Our Failure Stories?

Focusing only on success can lead you to failure!

I was raised in a society where success mattered a lot, and any failure considered not OK! At school, we received a present from our teacher when we succeeded as the best in our class, but we never talked about our failures.

Most of us translate “failure” to “lack of success” but how realistic is our image of success? LinkedIn, Facebook and Medium are full of success stories with few or no detailed explanations of how a person or a company got to that level. We define our “success” based on others’ achievements. On the other hand, we read very few failure stories on social media platforms, and most of us are not keen to look for failure stories.

Our high fear of failure can lead us to focus on achieving success and avoiding risks, which has happened to me. I learned to be aware of my weaknesses and embrace the risks, and when I fail, share my failure stories and get professional help.

Recently, a succesful entrepreneur shared a post on LinkedIn:

To make the point further, Thomas Edison had thousand’s of attempts to invent the lightbulb before succeeding. After his success, he said:

Thomas Edison was a successful innovator, but his success was not gained only by himself, he believed in teamwork and worked with many researchers and employees. Perhaps he would never have found the answer if he hadn’t have built his team!

Now, if we apply that in our personal lives, how many of us think life is teamwork? Perhaps, if we consider each person in our network as a team member and be more open about our failures, maybe our lives will also turn failure to success more often?

Like all of us, there are times when you feel helpless and search for a solution. You may turn to your family or friends for help. But what if, for example, you turn to your social media network, explain what happened and ask for help?

I know, I know, the idea might sound challenging, but let me tell you about how I shared my failure story (better to say, lack of success story) on LinkedIn.

In 2019, I got a new job in a new country, but after working for a year I quit!

Finding a new job was not easy during the during Covid crisis. To further complicate matters, I needed sponsorship for my visa and work permit.

I felt helpless!

Here is the list of what I had done wrong!

Eventually, I shared my story, my visa status, and my resume with many recruiters, and my network on LinkedIn.

I received many supportive comments and messages, feedback on my resume, and people called me to help! I finally got a job! Success!

In 2019, I made many decisions on my own. Every one I made, could have been improved by sharing my story. When I accepted the job in 2019, I was sure about my decision, and couldn’t see the risk to my mental health of working in a demanding startup, in a new country, where I knew no-one.

Sometimes, a friendly talk and a piece of advice can be life-changing.

I recently read a book called “Bad Blood” by John Carreyrou, a failure story from Silicon Valley. For sure, people who work in tech startups and businesses can learn a lot from this book!

Long story short, Theranos becomes the biggest corporate fraud of Silicon Valley! This book is a brilliant story for managers, entrepreneurs, and people who work in a startup. The book is the full inside story of Theranos with lots of detailed explanation of how the company grew and what went wrong, both in managerial and technology.

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