In April 2026, we did a Power Hour called The Leader Your Team Needs You to Be. I made this statement multiple times: “My name is Barbara, and I am a failure.” When I read over the Power Hour chat, there was a comment that has lived rent-free in my head since that day. While I don’t remember the exact wording, I think I’m pretty close:

“I have failed many times, but I would never call myself a failure.”

The reason I can’t stop thinking about this statement is not because I’m judging what that person said, but because of the immediate judgement I put on myself when I read it. “Oh, you have just failed again, Barbara.”  I took it as a condemnation of the whole message of the presentation, which was that failure is a gift, that our teams need us to fail, learn, get better, repeat. I am certain that was not the spirit with which that comment was intended, and I hope the speaker doesn’t read this and feel my purpose here is to defend myself. I’m actually thankful for the comment and where it has taken me on my never-ending journey of introspection and self-improvement since. 

Everyone has a superpower, and I’m often told mine is my vulnerability. I am simply not afraid to admit my missteps and share what I learned and how I grew from the experiences of failure. I built that Power Hour as a lean-in to that vulnerability. In the past, so much of what I read about leadership was all about strength and power and making quick decisions with authority and never admitting to not having the answers. More recently, authenticity and vulnerability have become the anchor points for leadership education. Do your best! Let ‘em know you’re trying!

So, back to the statement that brought me here, “I am a failure.” My mind is often busy assigning positive or negative connotations to words. I think a lot of people do that, and for most, the word failure would fall squarely into the negative category.  I went down a failure rabbit hole this weekend because words matter to me. While I can promise you that every blog and class and word you read from me is authentically written by me, I did ask AI for some help sorting through some definitions. I didn’t, as I typically do, want to just go with the dictionary definition of the words. I started with failure and took two different AI interpretations and melded them into one:

Often serving as a catalyst for learning, failure is the state of not meeting an intended objective or falling short of a standard. Failure is also viewed as a subjective experience that can lead to feelings of inadequacy. 

I moved “catalyst for learning” to the front because I am actively turning failure from a negative to a positive in my mind, and I want you to do that, too. But when I read this - can lead to feelings of inadequacy - my immediate reaction was, “Imposter Syndrome!!” We all know what that is, whether we will admit it or not. That feeling of self-doubt, of feeling like a fraud despite success or evidence of our own competence. That feeling of “who do I think I am?” It’s the fear that anything good that happens to us is luck, not ability. Let me be clear, it’s the rarest among us who never face those feelings, and even they are probably lying to themselves. It doesn’t matter your education or credentials or accolades … self-doubt comes for us all eventually. It’s part of the human condition. It’s what we do with those feelings that really matters.

There it is. We have circled back to the crux of the matter. When we turn failure into a destination instead of a mile marker on our journey, it can feel like we are never going to get it right, we aren’t capable of leading, we are an imposter in our space. That’s what I wish I had made clear in that Power Hour. When I said “I am a failure,” I didn’t mean it as an end result. Failure never should be. Alongside every failure are the wins that keep me going and remind me that that failure was a mile marker and an important piece in my evolution and growth. 

Here’s what I want to challenge you to do when you pass one of those failure mile markers:

1. Celebrate: That miss, no matter how big, is a benchmark in time. Recognizing that a failure has occurred gives you clarity. You now know what didn’t/doesn’t work, and that can be as important as knowing what does. You now have a key piece of information. 
2. Tell Stakeholders: Information is power … unless you keep it to yourself. We try so hard to hide our feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability because we think we have to look capable all the time. The truth is, capability is finding the failure mile marker and using that experience to grow and help others grow as well. You are not an imposter because you failed, you are an imposter when you pretend you didn’t.
3. Document Everything: Pretending it didn’t happen also means losing the thing that turns failure into a positive: the results. But don’t just name your list “This is why that stunk.” For everything that didn’t work, now is the time to brainstorm and problem solve. Failure isn’t the destination because it’s an opportunity, and opportunity, by definition, means the chance for advancement or progress. A destination is the end of progress. Failure is the opportunity for better, if only we are brave enough to document and confront what went wrong.
4. Pep Talk: I know you. I know us all. Even with all the forward motion of actively digging the positives out of failure, in the wee hours of the night, when sleeplessness creeps in, it’s the failures that will typically haunt us. The only way to battle that is to remind ourselves that failure is temporary, but knowledge is our future. Instead of dwelling on those failures, thank the intrusive thoughts for reminding you they happened, then actively list what you learned from them that will help you do better tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.

In the end, I’m proud of my failures. Were they uncomfortable? Yes. Is humble pie bitter? You bet it is. Did it take bravery to admit those failures to the people who were invested in the outcome? Oh, so much. Did it hurt? More than a little sometimes. But every one of those instances made me who I am today. When we say we have “decades of experience” behind us, well, some of those experiences were not as shiny as others, but the knowledge we gained from the hard parts may be the most valuable. Hold your head up, fellow failures. Opportunity awaits!

Carpe those diems, everyone!

❤️ Barbara Pierce