The Failure Resume

The Failure. The Lesson. What’s Next?

Instead of the usual success resume or CV – instead it’s a super simple one pager with three columns (the failure, the lesson and what’s next or what will you do differently next time).

It’s an idea made popular by Dan Pink, building on the work of Tina Seelig. It’s something Dan has talked about for some time, and it makes a lot of sense.

We learn more from our failures than our successes (usually). IF and this is a big IF – we go back and constructively look at why there was a failure. And by constructively, I mean looking at the lesson and what else could have been done, not beating ourselves up ad infinitum with no reflection around what will be different next time.

But the most interesting thing I found when I did this recently was not just the lessons and what I can do differently – but the PATTERN.. The same two lessons kept arising over the course of my career (interestingly, Dan Pink said the same).

The Takeaway

We can’t change what we don’t see.

Being clear on what has happened, what we need to learn from it, and what we will do differently is important if we want to change the trajectory of our careers, and our narrative of ourselves.

More Resources

Do you keep a failure resume – New York Times

Daniel Pink on failure and regret – Business Insider

More from Dan Pink

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See you soon,

 

 

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