Leadership Development – The Key Difference Between Failure and Success

Have you begun to realize how truly important your personal leadership development is in regards to your entire life? You may be realizing that being a great leader is not just about leading others; it is also about leading yourself. In fact, all of the great leaders in history were people who were devoted to mastering their own life. So what is the key difference between failure and success when it comes to effective personal leadership development? If this is a question you have pondered, then you owe it to yourself to learn this key principle of leadership development

Defining Failure

First, let’s look at the concepts of failure and success: most of the time we look at them as opposites. We believe that our leadership development will either drive us to success or that lack of it will doom us to failure. This kind of thinking is the reason why most people never get what they really want out of life. Failure and success are not opposites; in fact they are so closely related that you almost cannot separate them. The reason for this is because they are components of the same process.

That process is the cultivation of persistence, and it is this process which is the ultimate pathway to success. What do you think of when you think of persistence? Does it not bring up images of someone fighting on the face of opposition and failure and defeat until they get what they are after? And once they get what they are after, are they going to keep it if they let go at the first sign of failure or defeat? Well, not if they are devoted to true personal leadership development and to success.

We have all heard of the famous story of Thomas Edison and the light bulb. However, take any person who has achieved success and has managed to keep it and to enjoy it and look at their life. As you do this, you will discover that every one of them had to fight past failure and cultivate persistence in order to win. This is the ultimate key to true personal leadership development and the pathway to lasting success. You see, those who win success without first having to pay the price of failure, almost never hold onto what they have.

Failure and Character

This is because they see less personal sacrifice and therefore they take the success they ‘win’ for granted. You see, while it takes talent to achieve success you must have character in order to keep it and to enjoy it without destroying yourself. When it comes to leadership development this will make the difference between the building of a true leader and winner and the making of a quitter or a ‘has been.’ Failure is the grinding stone which sharpens the blade of persistence.

So here is the question which you have to begin with: “Am I using failure towards my own personal leadership development or to my own personal defeat?” The honest answer to this is the key difference between success and failure.

Leadership Development begins with effectively leading yourself. People follow this more than titles or formal positions of authority. Is your current Personal Leadership Development making you into this kind of leader?

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