I remember a profound call with a Silicon Valley CEO.
A successful CEO with a prestigious college in his background.
Running a company that designed physical technology that changes lives.
Instead of running it powerfully, he was running it fearfully.
Full of fear.
I remember when he shared his deep fear with me.
He said, "I am afraid to fail."
This fear was driving his actions.
He wasn't feeling empowered in all decisions to serve his people.
He was feeling disempowered by failure.
Failure stole his moments.
Failure robbed his time.
Failure took him away from the present.
This not only happened in the workplace but it happened at home, too.
Failure, this culprit.
This enemy.
But what if it is not failure?
This CEO shared with me the meaning he gave to failure.
This meaning drove him towards an unattractive future.
A future he did not want.
His meaning machine created this:
"If I fail, I won't be able to raise future funding for my company. If I won't be able to raise future funding, I won't become a serial entrepreneur."
His meaning for his deepest fear prevented him from living into his desirable identity.
And as such, that scared him.
... he knew what he wanted in his future.
And if failure affected or was a threat to that desirable future, then failure was to be avoided! Failure was to be feared!
Or so the thinking went.
Until we changed it.
And as such, we changed his relationship with failure.
I wonder how you can change the meaning you have created for failure.
