Anyone running for elected office wants to win. Pretty darn basic: the person who earns the highest number of votes from constituents gets the job. There is a winner and by default, a loser. A failure.
Typically Type A, hard charging, ambitious political candidates and their equally hard-charging, ambitious political campaign managers shirk from failure. Failure is not an option, right? It’s what most of us believe.
Remember these guys from NASA? The truth is a little more complicated. Photo courtesy NASA.gov
But the truth is a lot more complicated. The truth is that you often need to be a failure to win.
John Nienstedt, President and CEO of Competitive Edge Research & Communication, says failure isn’t something for campaigns to avoid, but rather an opportunity to test, to learn and to improve. Nienstedt says “even labelling human endeavors “failures” should be challenged … If you don’t fail at times, you’re also missing opportunities to learn as much as you can about yourself, your limits and the world around you.”
Nienstedt says if a large campaign survey is a complete success, your pollster isn’t trying hard enough.
Disclosure: Competitive Edge is a client of my consulting firm, Falcon Valley Group.