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March 22, 2005
Growing Through Failure
Today’s most progressive companies use failure in everyday job situations as learning situations for individual employees who show exceptional promise. They view the experience of failure as a competitive edge.
The theory: Within a safe environment (such as a company which does not dock – but encourages – employees who try something new which may end up in failure), individuals develop more rapidly through failed-and-analyzed ventures than a string of unexamined successes.
Inclusion in the real world of work for people with disabilities, therefore, needs to offer the experience of both success and failure.
But that doesn’t always happen because those of us with disabilities are often shuffled into jobs which are safe but stifling. It’s part of a paternalism that we often experience as a result of good intentions on the part of friends, parents, spouses, career counselors, hiring managers, supervisors and co-workers. Such paternalism can lead to situations in which we experience neither meaningful work nor enlightening failure.
There often may be many paths to failure but only a few routes to success. That’s why, over the course of our careers, it may be even more important to know what does not work for us than what does.
Here’s one example from my own career.
After I retired from a “safe” job in corporate communications and organizational development at a company where I worked for 28 years, I decided to build on the success I had in helping senior management effectively use corporate communication audits.
I became a Midwest consultant for a leading communication research firm on the West Coast.
But I found that, even though I worked hard at honing my skills in consulting, marketing and self-employment and I was using my experience in communication research, my disabilities severely limited my ability to recruit and convert management clients. I even tried delegating the personal contact work to others for a "piece of the action."
After working for four years within the communication research realm, I had generated a total of $20,000 in billings during that period. One year I had no income at all and had to rely on savings for living expenses.
However, I did learn three important lessons from that “growing space” experience. It doesn’t pay to beat a dead horse to death. Corporate communication research is a very hard “sell.” And my heart is in helping people address disability employment issues through the Internet.
Four years of putting myself in the shoes of CEOs prepared me for helping eSight become a bridge for connecting business leaders to talent in the disability community.
In terms of employment, what does not work for you? When did you make that discovery? How have you used that knowledge to gain meaningful employment?
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Posted by Jim at March 22, 2005 06:05 PM
Comments
What does not work for me is not discussing my visible disability and the need for using a walker for mobility. I have begun discussing it with mixed results. I am looking for allies who will support my endeavors. I have many friends who do not consider me disabled--finding corporations who value my gifts is a search that takes time, patience, persistence, determination and an indomitable spirit. All of these things I have in abundance thanks to my disability except for patience of course.
Posted by: Barney Mayse at March 23, 2005 12:55 PM
What doesn't work for me is a confrontational attitude on my part when I am faced with the paternalistic instincts of friends, family and co-workers. This is hard for me. I know you all know that we feel the same as those without special needs. When I address being "molly-coddled", if I address it in a calm, non-judgemental way, I seem to get further. Except for with my own mother who loves me but makes me crazy.
Posted by: Connie at March 23, 2005 06:20 PM