--- title: How to Deal With a Failure at Work description: "Circumstances may differ, but the deeper patterns and the lessons keep resonating." canonical: https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T04:01:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:48:21.026Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How to Deal With a Failure at Work og:description: "Circumstances may differ, but the deeper patterns and the lessons keep resonating" og:url: https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26222be559b07ca6/698868d4524fc084dedf5138/business-man-stressed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4936 og:image:height: 2777 og:image:alt: business-man-stressed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Deal With a Failure at Work twitter:description: "Circumstances may differ, but the deeper patterns and the lessons keep resonating" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26222be559b07ca6/698868d4524fc084dedf5138/business-man-stressed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Deal With a Failure at Work > Sponsored content. 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In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Oct 22, 2015 4:01 AM UTC  Close to breaking point... Close to breaking point... Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Oct 22, 2015 4:01 AM UTC The problem with most business books is they present a formula for problems that ultimately have no formula. You’re reading something with no practical value and you’re not really learning anything. There is no formula for dealing with complexity that’s always changing. “There’s no recipe for leading a group of people out of trouble,” writes Ben Horowitz in [_The Hard Thing About Hard Things_](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0062273205&asin-it=0062273205&asin-fr=0062273205&asin-de=0062273205&asin-uk=0062273205&asin-ca=0062273205&asin-com=0062273205). The book is one of the best business books I’ve read in a long time. --- > “” --- Most management books focus on [how to avoid screwing up](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/10/iatrogenics/) – or at least covering up your mess if you do. Ben provides insight into what to do after you screw up. Just because there is no formula doesn’t mean things are hopeless. Advice and experience can help guide us. But that’s the difference between Ben’s book and most: he shows you what it’s really like to make hard decisions, without offering you a three step formula. Horowitz walks you through his considerations, deliberations, thoughts, mistakes, regrets, difficulties. Through that journey, we learn. “Circumstances may differ, but the deeper patterns and the lessons keep resonating.” **Fear**. Here is an interesting point on fear that’s representative and telling. --- > “” --- **Seeing the world though different lenses** --- > “” --- **We can’t do everything** --- > “” --- **The best thing about startups** --- > “” --- **The type of friends you need in your life** --- > “” --- **Doing the hard things, not the fun things.** Ben had a lot of mentors, Bill Campbell was one of them. Being present and letting people know where they stand is incredibly important. Four star General Stan McChrystal couldn’t have been [the leader he was](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/03/stanley-mcchrystal-my-share-of-the-task/) without being out there with the troops sleeping in the same conditions with the same risk. Here is an incredibly important lesson on leadership that most people miss. --- > “” --- Figuring out what the customer wants is the innovator’s job. And innovation requires [a combination of skills](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/12/the-five-skills-of-disruptive-innovators/). --- > “” --- I’ve talked about [the important role that coding will play in the future](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/average-is-over/). Horowitz offers a simple lessons for programmers and managers alike: “all decisions were objective until the first line of code was written. After that, all decisions were emotional.” **Tell it like it is.** When you start losing the truth is the first thing to go and everyone sees it. --- > “” --- Why should you tell it like it is? A few reasons: it builds trust; smart people will see through the lies anyways; it fosters a positive culture and ensures everyone is working from the same page with the same information. The pressure to be positive as a leader is incredible. People are looking to you and you want to inspire them. But the best way to do that is to be real with them. For example, if you’re trying to foster a culture where failure is OK, but you don’t get up there and talk about one of your massive personal failures, the culture won’t even have a chance to change. [_The Hard Thing About Hard Things_](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0062273205&asin-it=0062273205&asin-fr=0062273205&asin-de=0062273205&asin-uk=0062273205&asin-ca=0062273205&asin-com=0062273205) is the best business book I’ve read in a long time. Perhaps one of the best ever. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/"},"headline":"How to Deal With a Failure at Work","datePublished":"2015-10-22T04:01:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:48:21.026Z","description":"\"Circumstances may differ, but the deeper patterns and the lessons keep resonating.\"","url":"https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/","keywords":["Psychology","Business topic","Management","advice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26222be559b07ca6/698868d4524fc084dedf5138/business-man-stressed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26222be559b07ca6/698868d4524fc084dedf5138/business-man-stressed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"business-man-stressed","caption":"business-man-stressed","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4078280/failure-at-work/","name":"How to Deal With a Failure at Work"}}]}] ```