Are You Unafraid to Fail?

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending an uplifting talk by D&B CEO Sara Mathew at the Carlson School of Management’s First Tuesday luncheon.

Mathew told of her remarkable journey from an entry-level clerk at Procter and Gamble to the top job at another venerable institution, Dun and Bradstreet. By itself, this is a very inspiring story. But what made her talk memorable and truly inspirational was her candor in sharing her darkest and most troubling moments.

Rising through the ranks at P&G, Mathew made her way to head investor relations in the mid-1990s, just as the Internet was catching on. There she convinced CEO John Pepper to hold P&G’s first investors webcast, advocating this as a pathway to bolster communication with key corporate stakeholders.

The webcast was a complete disaster.  Quarterly results were mediocre, and Mathew’s remarks were far too informal for the occasion. Before she knew it, she had destroyed over $3 Billion of P&G hard-fought market capitalization. Soon she would receive a handwritten note from the CEO, suggesting that P&G never do a webcast again.

As failures go, this was a big one, on a very public stage. Still, she was convinced that webcasts were a good idea; just the execution needed improvement.  She went back to the CEO to argue her case, and was granted a second chance. On the next webcast, she delivered a stellar performance. P&G never looked back, and webcasts became the standard way of communicating with investors.

Mathew attributes much of her success over the next seventeen years to this one crucial learning: “failure teaches you much more than success ever will.” It made her more resilient and unafraid to fail.

Mathew’s courage is noteworthy on two levels. First, convinced that she was on solid strategic ground, she had the courage to go back to make her case to P&G’s CEO, causing him to reverse his decision and give her a second chance. Second, she has the courage to retell this story publicly.

This, I feel, is a hallmark of an extraordinary leader; so confident in her leadership that she is willing to share her story so that others can learn as well.  Through her generous act, Mathew reveals an important truth. We are all human and imperfect.  We all struggle, and sometimes we make mistakes. And when we embrace our struggles rather than running from them, we inspire others to follow, and our leadership only continues to get stronger.