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186 PART 3: THE PERSONAL SIDE OF LEADERSHIP
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failure when you’re young.” Today, many people want success to come without

difficulties, problems, or struggles. However, accepting—even welcoming—failure
enables courage. Failure can play a creative role in work and in life because people
and organizations can learn valuable lessons from things that go wrong. Leaders
can redefi ne failure away from its negative associations and see it as an important
fi rst step toward success. 72
When people accept failure and are at peace with the worst possible outcome,
they find they have the fortitude to move forward. Leaders know that failure

can lead to success and that the pain of learning strengthens individuals and the
organization. Sharon McCollick was hired for a top sales and planning position
at a hot software startup partly because she had started a business and failed.
Company leaders liked the fact that she had been willing to take the risks as-
sociated with starting a business and then move forward after the failure. Even
people who invested in her business and lost money say they’d do it again. “She
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tried and failed and so what?” said one backer. “The next time, my bet’s on her.”
McCollick believes that having hit rock bottom and survived has given her greater

courage. In addition, she radiates self-confidence because she is no longer terri-
fied of failure. There is evidence that with repeated practice, people can overcome

fears such as a fear of flying or fear of heights. Practice also enables people to
overcome fear of risk-taking in their work. Every time you push beyond your
comfort zone, every time you fail and try again, you build psychological strength
and courage.
Harness Frustration and Anger If you have ever been really angry about
something, you know that it can cause you to forget about fear of embarrass-
ment or fear that others won’t like you. In organizations, we can also see the
power of frustration and anger. Glenn McIntyre used his anger and frustration
to start a new life and a new business. After he was paralyzed in a motor-
cycle accident, McIntyre fi rst used his anger to overcome thoughts of suicide
and begin intensive physical therapy. Later, frustration over how poorly hotels
served handicapped guests led him to start a consulting fi rm, Access Designs.
The fi rm helps hotels such as Quality Suites and Renaissance Ramada redesign
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their space to be more usable for disabled travelers. Another example comes
from Nigeria, where anger and frustration play a key role in Nuhu Ribadu’s
courage in cracking down on oil smugglers and crooked politicians. Death
threats against Ribadu, head of the new Economic and Financial Crimes Com-
mission, are common, but he is committed to ridding Nigeria, and ultimately
all of Africa, of fraud and corruption. His determination comes partly from the
frustration he felt as a student in the 1980s, as he watched a democratically
elected government crumble due to rampant fraud, and the anger he still feels
as he sees Nigeria’s people suffer from an unethical and dysfunctional political
system. 75
People in organizations can harness their anger to deal with diffi cult situa-
tions. When someone has to be fi red for just cause, a supervisor may put if off
until some incident makes her angry enough to step through the fear and act.
Sometimes, outrage over a perceived injustice can give a mild-mannered person
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the courage to confront the boss head on. In addition, getting mad at your-
self may be the motivation to change. Anger, in moderate amounts, is a healthy
emotion that provides energy to move forward. The challenge is to harness anger
and use it appropriately.