Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode three seventy. Today. We're talking about something every
Speaker 2: leader will face at some point in their journey, and
Speaker 2: that's defeat. That moment where your plans collapse, where your
Speaker 2: project fails or your leadership is questioned. The reality is
Speaker 2: this defeat is inevitable. But what you do next, that's
Speaker 2: where the story gets rewritten. Here's the truth. Most people
Speaker 2: fear defeat because they believe it defines them. But as leaders,
Speaker 2: we don't get the luxury of quitting. Our people are watching,
Speaker 2: our mission is depending on us. So we need to
Speaker 2: learn how to turn to feed into something far more powerful.
Speaker 2: A new beginning, and I'll share a quick story with you.
Speaker 2: Several years ago, I pitched a new leadership development strategy
Speaker 2: to my organization. It was bold, I believed in it,
Speaker 2: I poured months into it, and when I rolled it out,
Speaker 2: it was met with silence, not just resistance, straight up silence.
Speaker 2: Participation dropped. Feedback was brutal people I thought had my
Speaker 2: back stepped away. It felt like a punch to the gut.
Speaker 2: But after sitting with that for a while, after getting
Speaker 2: over the sting of failure, I realized something. The strategy
Speaker 2: wasn't wrong, the delivery was, the timing was, and most importantly,
Speaker 2: I hadn't listened enough to what the team actually needed.
Speaker 2: That failure gave me the blueprint for what eventually became
Speaker 2: the Leadership Academy, one of the most successful programs I've
Speaker 2: ever launched. So let's talk tact Here are five ways
Speaker 2: to turn defeat into a new beginning. Number one, name
Speaker 2: the defeat, but don't marinate in it. Too Many leaders
Speaker 2: pretend like nothing happened. That's not strength, that's denial. Call
Speaker 2: it out. This didn't work, this failed, But then stop.
Speaker 2: Don't replay it over and over. Process it, document the lessons,
Speaker 2: and shift forward. You can't launch something new if you're
Speaker 2: still emotionally living in the wreckage of what didn't work.
Speaker 2: Number two, own what you can, let go of what
Speaker 2: you can't. Leadership defeat hurts more when you try to
Speaker 2: own things that were never yours. Did you miscommunicate own that,
Speaker 2: did someone backstab you? Or block your vision out of
Speaker 2: ego that's not on you. Sort the mess, learn your part,
Speaker 2: let the rest go. Don't carry unnecessary weight into your
Speaker 2: next chapter. In number three, turn the debrief in to
Speaker 2: the blueprint. The best lessons come from what didn't work.
Speaker 2: So gather your team or even just your notebook, and
Speaker 2: depbrief it. What did we learn, What warning signs were there?
Speaker 2: What should we never do again? Now take those lessons
Speaker 2: and draft the first line of your new playbook. This
Speaker 2: is how leaders grow. Number four, Launch small and test often.
Speaker 2: Your new beginning doesn't have to be a full scale relaunch.
Speaker 2: Take one piece of your failed idea, tweak it and
Speaker 2: test it. If it lands, you've got proof of concept.
Speaker 2: If not, tweak again. Progress over perfection, Forward over fast.
Speaker 2: Small wins add up. In number five, tell the story.
Speaker 2: There is power in transparency. When you own your defeats
Speaker 2: out loud and explain how they led to something better.
Speaker 2: You lead with authenticity that builds trust, and trust is
Speaker 2: the currency of every great leader. So the most successful
Speaker 2: leaders I know don't avoid failure. They absorb it, They
Speaker 2: learn from it, and then they weaponize it as fuel
Speaker 2: for their next move. Defeat is not your ending. It's
Speaker 2: your pivot point. The new beginning doesn't start once the
Speaker 2: dust settles. It starts the moment you choose to stop
Speaker 2: replaying the loss and start rewriting the next scene. So
Speaker 2: the next time defeat walks through your door, don't hide,
Speaker 2: shake its hand, sit down with it, and then send
Speaker 2: it on its way with a new blueprint in your hand.
Speaker 2: This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I
Speaker 2: thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.