Figure out why (and where) others failed

July 07, 2008 5:21 PM

Any time you share coffee, lunch or rent the brain of a successful person, you need to figure out why (and where) they FAILED.

Sure, you can ask about and learn from their successes.

But odds are, you’ll glean the most wisdom from hearing about their screw-ups.

The mistakes.
The lessons learned.
The experiences that taught them the most.

Here are some questions you can ask:

1. What was the biggest mistake you made in your first year of business?
2. What are the three biggest mistakes made by people in your industry?
3. What is the stupidest possible thing I could be doing right now?
4. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
5. What’s on your list of “Things I’ll Never Do Again”?
6. What things do you wish you started doing earlier?
7. Complete the following sentence: “I would have been a lot more successful had I never…”

Mistakes away!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you learn from your mistakes?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Started My Company,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.