The Devil of Failure

How do you explain the word SUCCESS? Sounds like a simple question, but if you do a survey to a thousand people, you may get a thousand versions of answers - and at the end you end up not having any answer.

Some successes may be easy to describe because of clear measurements, like a championship trophy or gold medals in the olympics. For those who work in corporations, success may be defined as promotions, the corner office, the size of responsibility. For those seeking wealth, success is also reasonably easy to define, by how much asset one accumulates. In a more complex context, military mission has to balance the accomplishment of the mission versus the sacrifices of human lives to reach it.

Those are all valid definitions and I am not writing to offer another definition. The more interesting question is, what is the difference between those who made it versus those who did not? I think this question is worth a thought.

In my view, the difference between success and failure lies in the individual's persistent refusal to fail. I see this as the unwillingness to let setbacks, temptations or discomfort stop one from focusing and working to reach the goals. I think luck, physical strength, talent, brain power and energy are all important factors to success, but the persistent refusal to fail will make one individual stand out among equals. This attribute alone distinguishes the winners from the losers, the achievers from the slackers.

I saw this quality in all impressive people I have met, and all the amazing people I admire. I admire John F Kennedy because of his ability to bounce back despite his Bay of Pig set-back. It amazes me how he can continue to focus on his work despite the public beatings he receives daily after his mistakes. I am amazed at the strength of Mahatma Gandhi in keeping his promise to fast until the violent fights stopped in his homeland. He did it at the time where people lost faith in his non-violent approach, when all hope seemed lost. Yet he prevailed and restored calm through his unwaivering faith.

Most importantly I am encouraged when I observe those small successes, those I see on my daily life. A 50 year old female colleague of mine continued to work hard on the task despite doubts from her own boss and several attempts from her boss to replace her. She eventually prevailed by convincing her boss on her contribution and held on to her position. I have my own experiences in my younger years as a professional, when discomfort and setbacks pushed me out from the battles I needed to fight. I have learnt since then, that success is only achievable when I stare "the devil of failure" in the eyes, not quit and stay in the game. I have applied that in my life and my work since then - and I am happy to say that I am a witness to my own growth and developments.

The devil of failure will be the first to stand in the way of every person who tries to achieve something. It will tell us that the discomfort is just too much to bear and your dream is not that important, so quit it and do something easier. It will say that the setback you have had recently is too big to recover from, so do not worry to fight back and just walk away from it. It will give you all sort of reasons to quit. As I thought about this, I began to really understand and appreciate the meanings in the story of Jesus beating the devil in the desert.


At the end, your success is your dream to reach, and throughout the journey there, you will encounter many reasons to fail. If you really want to achieve your goals, the first thing you should do is to be ready to stare down the devil of failure in the eyes when he comes to greet you.

Corporate Career Ladder (and Snake)

Probably many of you know this game well. It is a board game where you roll the dice, advance your pawn according to the number you get, with a possibility that you find a short-cut (if you find a ladder) or slide down (if you find a snake). I used to love the game as a kid.

Obviously, one player will advance faster than others depending on luck, and the winner is the one who finish first. In general all will advance somewhere even if they are not the winner, as long as they have the endurance to stay in the game, and not quit.

I am thinking about it as I reflect on the word "career path". After earning a living in corporations for many years, I realized that it is nothing more than a game of snakes and ladders. The bigger and more bureaucratic the organization is, the more will power and luck you will need to move ahead. Those with a strong will power will overcome the snakes, no matter how big and many they are.

I have my share of playing this game in corporations. I started as a young consultant, in one of the top American consulting firm based in Singapore. After moving up the ladders a few times and surviving several small snakes, I saw many bigger snakes on the way. So I decided to move out and earn money in a Dutch corporation based in Singapore and China. At my fifth year with this company I encountered an interesting opportunity that brought me to a big corporation in France. So now, in France, I work in an corporate headquarter where I encounter thousands of people playing the career snake and ladder game every day.

Lately I began to ask myself a question, why are so many people spending so much of their productive time playing this 2 dimensional board games. As I look around the office, I saw many people who seemed to be in perpetual move-up and slide-down mode and decided to just accept it as it is. I also worked with a few smart and energized people who overcame many snakes to move up to the next steps. A few did it out of competence for the job, but many are doing it because up in the board game is the only way to go. These people do not realize, that OUT is an alternative to UP especially when they find themselves in a place that they cannot add any value in.

Let me give some examples:

A managing director of the South East Asia office of a global logistics company, was a 45 years old Australian. It was obvious to many that he was not in the job for the love of logistics, or the love of South East Asia region. He was there because the job pays him well and he enjoys the hospitality of the South East Asian people. So he spent his days doing unproductive things like finding ways to maximize his bonus which is linked to the way he reports profit of his business unit. His CFO told me how disgusted he was everytime the time comes for him do this exercise. This Managing Director hardly talk about his work, and kept the competent people at a distance as he does not have the interest in talking to them. He got away with it for more than 10 years and certainly got his bonuses maximized.

So why would a person like this is allowed to spend his brain power for this purpose instead of doing something useful for others? How did the corporation let him get away with it? There are many others who can do a better job than him, and there are many other jobs where he can be more useful in. So yes, he overcome many snakes to get to his position of power, but wouldn't he and especially the people under him be better off if he quits?

Another example. An ex colleague of mine from my old consulting firm has been moving to 4 different consulting companies over the course of 10 years. He seems to be unable to stay in one company, even if the next job is exactly the same as the one before. It is obvious that he struggles to enjoy his work and his quality of work declines steadily. Despite his superb education background and credentials, he seems to be unable to escape the job he obviously hates - and continue to play the snake and ladders.

So I want to offer an alternative. Why don't the government require all MBA students to work as laborers for several years to get their hands dirty. Who knows they may end up being great managers in real sectors instead of being derivative traders in Goldman Sachs. Let's require all candidate teachers to work in industries (e.g., manufacturing). Those that decide to come back to teaching will be the ones who really love the job and better equipped to teach well. What about telling medical students to work in a food or chemical processing factories to see the source of many illness of their future patients. Maybe many will decide to stay in the industries and make healthier food for people. What about requiring every up-and-coming executives of corporations to take 2 years unpaid leave to teach or do charity work. Maybe some will end-up staying and using their brain power to help others directly.

Sceptics will argue that it will disrupt people's career path and aspirations. I will argue back, that it is only true if we see career path as a two dimensional board game. I have done my part of being stuck in a board game, but I have also done myself some good by asking why should I not do something else, including trying to work in a different culture like France and China? I have never done myself a better favor when I decided to get out of a board game and see something new.

I think it will be amazing to see how many people can find their true place in the world and contribute when they have the opportunity to try something different. We live in a multi - dimensional world, and people are multi dimensional creatures equipped with unique gifts. But today's corporations are designed to shrink people into two dimensional pions in a board game. I believe that most people are trapped in a place they do not belong to, and ended up spending so much time not realizing their potential (and often harming others on the way).