Manley Hopkinson on appreciating success and disaster in 2021

By Manley Hopkinson 

As a keynote speaker, when I share my story of skippering a boat in the world’s toughest yacht race I know that I will never have the time to share the whole story.

It was a journey of 32,000 miles that took over 9 months – so much happened that to try and squeeze it all in would do the scale of the adventure and the depth of the learning an injustice.

Manley Hopkinson- Appreciating success and failure

So I share only two stories, one of success the other less so, and begin with these lines from the powerful and poignant poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same”.

Brilliant and so true. Both success and failure can work for you, or they can work against you. To enable an innovative culture your approach to each is key, so here are my top 10 tips that I have learned on my journeys that work to foster a true culture of innovation.

1. Listen. It seems obvious but it is easily missed. In our enthusiasm and energy to share our thoughts, we can forget to listen. As a leader, make sure you “shut up and listen” first, for that is the only way you can hear any brilliant ideas.

2. Compassion. Compassion is “understanding with positive action”. We need to deeply understand the emotions, motivations, preferences, and needs of our people. Listening is the start, but then be positive with what you discover, drop your own prejudices and preferences, park your ego, and tap into what you are learning, as that makes the rest much easier.

3. Encourage sharing. Some people find it more comfortable than others. We tend to listen to the noisy ones and pass over the quieter ones. But what if they have digested and understood the problem and are now deeply absorbed in discovering an innovative solution?

4. You don’t know until you try. As a child, you never had any problems with this one, but as we grow up a fear of being judged can hold us back. Share this philosophy amongst all your people. Write it large on the wall and watch the fear subside and the experimentation begin.

5. Challenge Everything – 20/24! When I took part in the Polar Race to the magnetic North Pole we ran a 20 hour day because that worked better for us. As it happened, the sun never set as we were so far North, it just bounced along the horizon! Challenge everything, nothing is sacred. Nothing!

6. Focus on the positives. You will make mistakes. It will go wrong. But remain positive. Your attitude and reaction to something not working out as you thought it might is absolutely key. If you lose the positivity so will your team.

7. Attack the hurricane. When I skippered a yacht in the BT global challenge, we did not run away from our first hurricane – we attacked it. You can do the same. Challenge every threat and turn it into an opportunity. An opportunity to learn and innovate.

8. Celebrate failure. In my daughter’s school, they have a lovely acronym around the word FAIL. First Attempt Is Learning. Love it. Take every failure as an investment; you now know which direction does not work, brilliant.

9. Recognise effort not just results. It is easy to just focus on the outcome and celebrate when stuff works. But what about the incredible effort that may have gone into something that did not work? Encouraging greater effort leads to greater successes in the long term.

10. Be disciplined. This was our lesson on discipline on the race to the North Pole; whenever we took a break it was never more than 7 minutes – the external manifestation of our internal discipline. You will need to be disciplined on your journey of innovation

11. Be crazy. Drop any inhibitions and drop any early judgment. Let ideas see the light of day no matter how crazy they may seem at first. Encourage crazy and have fun

12. Fail Fast. Don’t let an idea out-live its potential. Test it, try it but don’t be afraid to drop it and then refocus to try again, and again.

About the author

Manley Hopkinson is the founder of renowned leadership consultancy Manley Talks LTD, author of Compassionate Leadership, a sought-after keynote speaker, and founder of The Compassionate Leadership Academy. Find out more: www.manleytalks.com

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