Failure, Yes! I’ll Take One, Please.
Failure gets a bad rap.
We treat it like something to avoid, something that marks us as incapable or unworthy. But here’s the truth:
If you never fail, you’re playing it way too safe.
Failure is not only normal, it’s necessary.
In fact, when you're building a career (or a life) that matters, failure should be expected… even applauded.
Why Failure Isn’t the Enemy
We’ve all stumbled
A missed opportunity
A bad grade
A job that didn’t pan out
A career move that backfired
But those moments don’t define you, unless you let them.
With Be Career Courageous™, we believe failure is a sign that you're trying something bold. And boldness? That’s where growth lives.
Be Career Courageous™ tip: Go fail at something. It’s how you learn what works—and what’s worth fighting for.
My Big Fail (and What It Taught Me)
Let’s rewind to my days leading the advertising program at Brink’s Home Security.
We discovered we couldn’t track 15% of our leads.
Let me be clear, that’s a disaster when you're making multimillion-dollar marketing decisions based on lead tracking.
It was a failure. A company-level, department-level, Kristin-level failure.
But here's the twist:
That “failure” meant we were tracking 85% of our leads across 20,000+ marketing campaigns. At the time, that was miles ahead of what most companies could do.
Our ad agencies loved working with us because we gave them more data than any of their other clients. We weren’t flying blind. We had insight. We had control.
Still, we knew we could do better. And we did.
What Happened Next? Teamwork + Grit.
To close the gap, we had to get IT, Sales, Customer Service, and Operations to work together.
If you’ve ever worked inside a large company, you know:
That many departments working together = chaos
Finger-pointing is inevitable
Change doesn’t come easy
But we got it done.
We brought that 15% down to under 3%.
That’s a huge win, and it never would’ve happened without the initial failure.
So What’s the Takeaway?
Failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s often the beginning of real growth.
I walked away from that experience with:
A deeper understanding of how departments communicate
A stronger team
A belief that collaboration can solve major problems
And yeah, I failed. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Ready to Be Career Courageous?
Whether you’re 17 or 27, or a parent of a young adult, don’t let the fear of failure stop you from taking the next step.
Explore our coaching programs to start building a career you’ll love, even if it starts with a few stumbles.
Learn to fail more often
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