We’ve been hearing from incredibly successful business leaders on this podcast. High-profile leaders, investors with blue-chip firms, and huge names in the healthcare and tech worlds. All sharing their advice on how to succeed and lead your business. But what we haven’t focused on are the failures, near- failures, or deep crises that every business goes through, sooner or later. Days, weeks, or even months when things just suck. Like losing a major customer right before you go public. Having key people leave right when you need them most. Or being charged with fixing a product that’s almost sure to fail. In this episode, Laurie and Ken, with a little help from Homeward Health CEO Dr. Jenny Schneider, step up to the mic and share their hard-won stories about what it’s like when things are hard, and how to get them back on track for success.
Key Takeaways
- Innaction Kills Companies: Although you may stress about making the right decision, not making a decision will cause dangerous stagnation for your company. Do not be afraid to take measured risks when making decisions for your brand, and surround yourself with individuals whose decisions you can trust.
- Building the Right Team is Essential: As mentioned in many of the podcast episodes (check out Julie Yoo on team and Talent), having a solid team around you who is all in is key to getting your business off the ground. Making your team excited about the project, and rewarding good results on your team will go a long way to the overall success of your company.
- Knowing When and How to Pivot: While your idea at the company may have great potential, it may not always be well received. Knowing when to change in response to investors, the market, the customers, or even your own team members….is crucial to nurturing future success. When building a company, you need to get many stakeholders on board with your idea, your goals and objectives, and how to get the work done. Changing course requires “selling” your ideas, even if everyone reports to you. How you listen to feedback and bring people along with you when making a change is key to making a successful pivot.
- How to Manage Your Emotions as a Leader: As a leader you are undoubtedly in a stressful and oftentimes emotional position, but it is important to manage these emotions to make the best decisions possible for your company. Emotions are wonderful but it is not always the right place and time to show them all. There is a leadership maturity required to manage emotions and to ensure that when you are leading, it is from a place of strength and not letting emotion get the better of you. Focusing on the solutions to the issues, channeling your emotions, and not dwelling on the negative are key tactics for being successful as a leader.
- Moving on from Failure: Failure is part of the process of being an entrepreneur. You learn from your mistakes, and while you aspire to success, failures happen. Moving on and taking your next project in a different direction will bring you one step closer to achieving your vision.
Supporting Resources
- The Inspiring Women Podcast with Laurie McGraw
- Healthcare In Rural America Isn’t A Little Broken, It’s A Lot Broken: A Conversation With Dr. Jennifer Schneider, Founder And CEO, Homeward Health, Deeptee Jain, 2023
- 11 Ways To Reset And Move Forward After A Business Setback, Forbes Expert Panel, 2023
- The 4 Biggest Challenges of Starting a Business (and How to Overcome Them), Jennifer Dublino, 2024
- Getting Employee Buy-In for Organizational Change, Andrea Belk Olson, 2023
- Four Ways to Reward Your Team For Their Performance, Nick Leighton, 2020
- Good Leaders Get Emotional, Doug Sundheim, 2013
- Three Ways Successful Leaders Manage Their Emotions, Carmine Gallo, 2022
- 13 Effective Ways for Leaders to Embrace Failure, Forbes Coaches Council, 2023
- Just Move On: The Best Leaders Own Their Failures and Learn From Them, Joyce E. A. Russell, 2021
Relevant Inspiring Women Episodes
- Ep. 25: Be as you are. Show up 100%. Diane Adams lives by these words
- Ep. 130: Results built her career. Being vulnerable and establishing trust made her CEO with Carolyn Starret
- Ep. 154: Change Can be Overwhelming. Judy Goldberg on bringing the Wonder into a Major Shift
