They decided to take a BOW Date:   Monday , March 05, 2012 A colleague once asked me- "What is the sure shot way of achieving Success by design and not by dumb luck?" A few months ago, I would have given a flippant answer and moved on, but now, having authored a best selling book on making success happen, I knew my reply would carry weight. Luckily, I had answered that question in "You Don’t Need a Godfather" (YDNAG). The answer, simply - "Play to fail" What you hear most often is "Play to your strengths" or "play to win" – then why on earth would I suggest anyone to play to fail? Doesn’t playing to our strengths enable us to stick to our comfort zone and hence guarantee success? True, but it also guarantees is limited success and growth. A gym instructor explained this well to me. If you were to only exercise your upper body and not work on your lower body you will land up looking like a turnip! But isn’t that what most of us do - we start our careers, get successful and then continue doing what we are good at. Then we hit a glass ceiling, don’t get that coveted promotion or worse get fired because we didn’t adapt. In YDNAG, I dedicate a full chapter to embracing failure, moving out of your comfort zone and expanding your skill set. The key takeaway - BOW to failure: B- Back against the wall- make the situation a do or die O- Own the result- take action knowing that there is risk involved W - Wear it like a badge of Honor- Make your failures and lessons learned, known As always, I find that rather than wax eloquent about learnings, lessons are driven home through examples of people like us doing things "unlike" us… so while you mull over your next failure, here are some who have lived and learned… Himanshu Agarwal A very successful entrepreneur who spends more time on a plane than with his young wife and child. All of 28 years old! Yes the age is right. But life was not always this rosy. Imagine his consternation when straight out of college he and his brother pooled in their savings to start their venture only to land smack in the middle of a recession! This is circa 2009 – he had a choice to quit and take up a corporate job. He was still young, had a pedigreed education but chose to move from technology to assessments! His point was I have already hit the bottom what is the worst that can happen! Today he attributes his success to early failure and actually thinks if he had succeeded early he would not have achieved this success and may have even become a ‘me too’ player! Sometimes that lost job interview, missed promotion maybe a blessing in disguise – could be nature’s way of getting your Back against the wall to help you succeed. I hope to remember this when my boss overlooks me for that assignment! Suresh "Suri" Ramachandran Suri walked up to me a few days ago and thrust my book at my face saying – remember you called me a fool for throwing everything away and moving from the cushy corporate job to ERP consulting and then to Entrepreneurship? Now look at what you are preaching! I smiled sheepishly because I had his case in mind when I was writing this chapter. Everytime Suri got comfortable with a role he would move. He moved from core HR in BPL (yes the TV company) to ERP consulting. Just when he was getting comfortable he moved to a line HR role and just when we all thought he was settling down he threw it all up to start his own venture! Suri's mantra – everytime I get comfortable and know I could do my job in my sleep I know it’s time to move! Not necessarily to other companies - many of the transitions he made were within one company. Today he is back to a corporate role stretching a new muscle. He has no issues about job security - there is a line of managers who want him to work for them… because they know he is an "all-rounder". Though he is in his late forties I know his current role is just another pit stop before he exercises another muscle group. Another friend of mine and successful executive - so I thought – called me after reading the book really upset. His grouse - why on earth did I not write this book earlier! His story – experienced early success in the corporate world, set up a successful entrepreneurial venture sold out and now very unhappy! Why? Because he now wanted to get back into the corporate world but nobody was willing to take a chance on him because they thought he was too specialized and too expensive. While he was open to taking a cut and didn’t care about the designation he got, nobody is listening. He doesn’t need the money but he desperately wants the job to keep him busy! His learning, "I wish I had not become such a narrow expert but taken time to build out more career competencies." He is now going back to business school to retool himself. Of course there are times he is embarrassed because his son is also going to the same college! He is lucky he has the financial muscle to get that second chance. Not all of us are that lucky. So take time to read "You Don’t Need a Godfather" as you chart your journey to success. It is a 'hatke' book written in a conversational tone, with a lot of humor and stories of people you will meet in the cubicle or may even see in the mirror. Stay connected and share your stories with me and read of others who are making their own way on www.ElangoR.com , on twitter @agastyasays, and on facebook www.facebook.com\authorelango Wishing you wild success