The following is an excerpt from an interview with Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, a $150 million hosiery company. It reminded me of a movie I just recently watched, "Meet the Robinsons." If you haven't seen it, see it. It's a good story.
You've said that failure was a huge part of your success—how so?
Because I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating. Most people attach failure to something not working out or how people perceive you. This way, it is about answering to yourself.
What's the best piece of business advice you ever received?
It probably came down to my father. When I was growing up, he encouraged us to fail. We'd come home from school and at dinner he'd say: 'What did you fail at today?' And if there was nothing, he'd be disappointed. It was a really interesting kind of reverse psychology. I would come home and say that I tried out for something and I was just horrible and he high-fived me.
