Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The author of 24 books on maximizing personal and leadership potential, John C. Maxwell believes "the difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure." In Failing Forward, he offers inspirational advice for turning the difficulties that inevitably arise in life into stepping stones that help you reach the top. Noting that star performers are often those who aggressively push forward after encountering adversity, Maxwell shows how a variety of well-known and not-so-well-known people have forged ahead despite obstacles that could have derailed them. They include: Mary Kay Ash, who founded her cosmetics firm against enormous odds when the direct-sales company she toiled in for 25 years resisted her continued corporate climb; Truett Cathy, who lost two brothers (and business partners) in an airplane crash and experienced his own serious medical problems before establishing the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain; Greg Horn, who reopened his Kentucky grocery store just 21 days after it suffered $1 million in flood damage; and Beck Weathers, who lost his nose, half of one arm, and the fingers on his other in the infamous 1996 Into Thin Air Mt. Everest tragedy, but now takes a positive message of survival and conquest to audiences around the world. --Howard Rothman

Product Description

The major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure. John C. Maxwell takes a closer look at failure--and reveals that the secret of moving beyond failure is to use it as a lesson and a stepping-stone. He covers the top reasons people fail and shows how to master fear instead of being mastered by it. Readers will discover that positive benefits can accompany negative experiences--if you have the right attitude. Chock full of action suggestions and real-life stores, Failing Forward is a strategic guide that will help men and women move beyond mistakes to fulfill their potential and achieve success.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; 1 edition (March 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785274308
• ISBN-13: 978-0785274308
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,184 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use Setbacks to Overcome Your Stalled Thinking, April 25, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Failing Forward is one of the best stallbusting books I have ever read! It focuses on how to handle our emotions when things aren't matching up to our expectations. Dr. Maxwell identifies dozens of stalls that delay progress for those who are experiencing setbacks in their lives.

While most people see setbacks as a negative, Dr. Maxwell points out that there is an important lesson that we can use to accomplish more in the future. Building on that appropriate and valuable perspective, Failing Forward postulates 15 principles that can help you apply the lesson.

Each chapter covers a separate principle and is filled with self-diagnostic questions, as well as heart-warming examples of how people went from apparent failure towards great success.

The work is very consistent with the philosophy of Anthony Robbins. If you are a Robbins fan, you will find this book to be a good complement to Unleash the Power Within.

I strongly recommend that you read this book, and reread it the next time you are feeling sorry for yourself or have a setback. If you care about others, be prepared to loan your copy to the next person who looks morose after having a problem.

Dr. Maxwell also offers a self-diagnostic test on the book's Web site (www.failingforward.com). I took that test and found it helpful to cement my understanding of the book. I recommend that you do this as well.

Unlike most books about self-improvement that are scaled to a level of sophistication, this book should appeal both to those with lots of experience and education as well as those who have yet to develop those perspectives.

The only people who will be confused will be those who have yet to experience any significant setbacks. They will wonder what all the fuss is about. To fill in that point, progress is seldom smooth. It usually looks more like 1 or 2 steps forward, and them some backward. In essence, we are talking about a zig-zag, even when things go well. At other times, the zig-zag can be downward.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectionists and down-trodden -- TAKE NOTE, April 8, 2001

By	Tani Newell "studentandwayfarer" (the University of Colorado at Boulder) - See all my reviews

"This book changed my life." (Yeah, right! And ... it also comes with a handy dandy attachment that minces onions at the touch of a button.) As an over-educated skeptic, trite words make my teeth ache.

But these words are in fact true. As Garrison Keillor says about Powdermilk Biscuits, this book will "give shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done." Heavens! it is expeditious.

I came upon this book after experiencing yet another setback in a series of seemingly never-ending pratfalls. My attitude was terrible. Luckily I had enough self-awareness to start looking around for fortifying inspiration. Out of everything I found, this book and videotapes by Joseph Campbell were the best medicine I found. (Sidebar: For anyone who discouraged in battling their life's dragons, Campbell's enthusiasm is infectious! His videotapes about the journey of the hero are inspiring.)

This book helped me in three major ways:

(1) IT TAUGHT ME WHY ADVERSITY IS OUR GREATEST TEACHER. Intuitively I already knew that adversity is like cod liver oil - nasty tasting but good for you. But, feeling battered, I had temporarily forgotten why getting knocked around was such a great idea. Maxwell helped me understand WHY adversity is such a great teacher - WHY we learn relatively little from success but a lot from "failure." He taught me how, if we are to succeed on a truly inspiring scale, we must be daring. He persuaded me that failing and adversity HAVE to be a part of my journey, or I am merely treading water.

(2) THIS BOOK MADE A MAJOR DENT IN MY PERFECTIONISM. As a reluctantly-reformed perfectionist, this book gave me a new attitude towards "failure." My tendency has always been to wince at mistakes, to dread criticism, and to make major detours around public embarrassment. Maxwell's effective combination of intellectual arguments, pithy quotes, and appropriately chosen stories managed to get past my wary defensiveness. Somehow I really GOT the fact that it is not only acceptable to make mistakes, but if I am not making mistakes on a daily basis I am not really learning. Wow. He has inspired me to end my days in self-reflection, in a humble look at the day's successes and mistakes, without blackboard-screeching self-recrimination. Simply and matter-of-factly deciding what to do differently next time. Unbelievable. Fellow perfectionists take heart.

(3) THIS BOOK IS FORTIFYING FOR THE HEART AND SPIRIT. When I started reading this book I ached for encouragement and a sense of the big picture. This book is balm and tonic for people who are losing heart. It reassures us that "failures" do not reflect upon us as human beings, and that one failure or even a flock of failures does not imply that disappointment will be life's circumstance du jour forever. Failure and disappointment simply mean that we are experiencing difficult circumstances that can provide us with life-enhancing lessons, if we are teachable and have the courage to face them honestly and courageously without taking them personally.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important nook about an important life issue, November 14, 2003

By A Customer

John Maxwell does a marvellous job of helping people to work through failure and move on. I am 53 years old and was recently laid off by an employer who told me that I was the best employee he had. I felt betrayed and would wake up every morning thinking of ways to get even (even though I knew I wouldn't act on them.) I was really hurt and couldn't get over it. A friend of mine suggested I read two books. The first one she recommended was this one and it really helped me to put things into perspective. Instead of moping around the house, I started looking through the papers and making calls to get job interviews. Yes, it got me going! The other book my friend recommended was Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self which helped me to understand that every situation (even a a situation I don't like) is an opportunity to be my best, and it showed me how to make the most of any situation. With books like these in the world, we never have to be stuck and we can really make the most of our lives.