Download PDF Fail More Embrace Learn and Adapt to Failure As a Way to Success 9781260441512 Business Development Books

By Dale Gilbert on Monday, May 27, 2019

Download PDF Fail More Embrace Learn and Adapt to Failure As a Way to Success 9781260441512 Business Development Books





Product details

  • Hardcover 208 pages
  • Publisher McGraw-Hill Education; 1 edition (March 26, 2019)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10 1260441512




Fail More Embrace Learn and Adapt to Failure As a Way to Success 9781260441512 Business Development Books Reviews


  • At times we all fail in our personal and professional lives. To me this book was like an instruction manual to assist in picking yourself up from the ground of failure and self doubt and get you back on track to success. Very interesting concepts. A must read for the entrepreneur and the business professional.
  • Excellent! Great for myself and for me to help guide my kids better. I’m so thankful I found this book!
  • I was provided this book specifically to write a review. That said, I always try to be open and honest in all my reviews.

    (Please see the enclosed pictures.)

    This is an extraordinary book that deals with a misunderstood topic. In innovative cultures and in business schools across the country, a mantra has emerged, "fail early, fail often."

    How many people actually embrace it? Less than the various gurus and professors would like to think.

    Why? Because we are raised from our earliest days not to fail.

    Still, there must be something to the notion.

    In this book, "Fail More," Bill Wooditch describes exactly what the positive aspect of failing more and earlier is.

    The book is written in a conversational tone, and it is loaded with Bill's personal stories, other people's anecdotes, and contains a strong dose of common sense.

    The bottom-line is that you have to fail the right way. Often a fear of failure holds us back from really experiencing new things and life. Bill talks about how he avoided taking risks as a young man, and it stunted his emotional and intellectual growth.

    The book is full of helpful exercises like imaging the worst thing that could happen and then accepting it and moving on to accomplishment.

    Bill's point is that we all fail. No matter how risk adverse we are, as human beings, we fail.

    The question is not failure it is how you deal with the fear of failure and what you learn from the experience.

    I'm an executive officer for a large organization, and I am going to make this book mandatory reading for my senior staff.

    This book is long overdue, and I give it my highest recommendation.
  • Thomas Edison would have agreed with Bill Wooditch that failure is an unconditional requirement for success. Years ago, when a dejected research assistant informed him that still another attempt to solve a filament problem had failed, Edison reassured him that "now we know another way that won't work."

    That is to say, the more you fail, the more you can learn. The more you learn, the more likely that you will succeed.  Better yet, if you also learn from others' failures, it is even more likely that you will succeed and probably much sooner than you otherwise would.Of course, it is necessary to be aware of what Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham characterize as "the unknown unknowns." This is probably what Mark Twain had in mind when observing, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so."

    Wooditch suggests, "Think of 'failing more' as 'trying more.' It's a strategic way to collect and apply tactical knowledge and methods you can use for future benefit." Moreover, "Success is a process that is always under construction...and failure is an indispensable teacher if you are a serious student of success."

    He makes brilliant use of several reader-friendly devices, notably a "Framing Failure" section at the conclusion of each of the ten chapters. "These are the required to master each chapter's challenge. For our purposes, framing is defined as 'making a construct by fitting parts together or in accordance with a plan.' Our takeaways are designed with the following plan in mind Use the takeaways today to start making changes in your life now. They're exportable and fully developed for immediate use."

    For example, this is the challenge in Chapter 4 "Break Through the Obstacles That Limit Success." Wooditch recommends and discusses three steps

    1. Open the door to change
    2. Take a 3D look at the obstacle
    3. Acknowledge an obstacle; denial of it will not remove it.

    In Leading Change, James O'Toole suggests that the greatest obstacle to change is usually cultural in nature becoming hostage to what he so aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort  and the tyranny of custom." In this context, I am also reminded of a reference by Warren Buffett to the chains of bad habits that are "too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”

    Fail More is best viewed as a combination of manifesto and operations manual. Bill Wooditch begins with a call to action -- "to embrace, learn, and adapt to failure as a way to success" -- and then explains HOW to achieve that worthy objective.  I agree with him that a team effort will be needed, hence the wisdom of this African proverb "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
  • If you asked most people to identify the biggest indicators of success, the list would probably include such items as 1) intelligence 2) education level 3) personality and 4) drive.

    Bill Wooditch, author of Fail More, says the biggest predictor of success is, “how willing you are to fail, study your failures, learn from them, and apply that hard-earned knowledge with consistency.”

    Our culture has stigmatized failure. We are taught that failure is bad and must be avoided at all cost. This has created a fear of failure which too often prevents people from taking action toward their goals and dreams.

    According to Mr. Wooditch, failure is an integral part of success. We are all going to experience some failure. We should not run from it but learn from it. “Learning from failure will change the dynamic of your life.” He further points out that, “When you don’t fear failure, you are free to perform at your best.”

    The book is a blueprint for success. It is rather short, just over 180 pages. Mr. Wooditch writes in a friendly conversational style. There are numerous examples throughout the book, some are public figures and some who worked for Mr. Wooditch. They achieved success by embracing the concepts of Fail More.

    While he encourages the reader to embrace failure, he also insists that you know the downside for any action you are anticipating. “You have to know the downside before you take the first step.”

    At the end of each chapter is a recap/summary. There are also exercises for the reader to do.

    This is a valuable tool for anyone who will apply the lessons. As Mr. Wooditch says, “I can’t do the push-ups for you.”