The other а word book

О книге «The Other «F» Word. How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work»

Leverage the power of failure in your organization Nobody wants to fail, but failure is a fact of life. Most of us treat it as a regrettable, even shameful, event best overlooked. In truth, failure can be a game-changing strategic resource that can help you and your organization achieve the greater success you crave. The Other «F» Word shows how successful leaders and teams are putting failure to work every day – to re-engage employees, spark innovation and accelerate growth. Authors Danner and Coopersmith – with their rare blend of senior-level executive experience, global advising, teaching acumen and cross-discipline perspective – share these valuable new practices, and show how they can improve results across your organization. Based on exclusive interviews with prominent leaders and insightful examples from their own in-depth work, the book features a practical seven-stage framework to liberate failure as a force to advance your leadership agenda. After all, everyone creates and confronts failure on a daily basis. Why not use it to your advantage? The Other «F» Word shows you how to: Start an open, productive conversation about failure across your organization Reduce the fear of failure that stifles initiative, creativity and engagement Anticipate, prepare for and respond to failure, so you can leverage it when it happens Harness failure as a catalyst to drive innovation, improve performance and strengthen culture Failure’s like gravity – pervasive and powerful. Whether you’re a leader or team member of a startup, a growing business, or an established enterprise, failure is today’s lesson for tomorrow. Let The Other «F» Word show you how to apply this lesson and take your company where it needs to go.

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  Table of Contents

  Legal Page

  Title Page

  Book Description

  Dedication

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Epilogue

  New Excerpt

  About the Author

  Publisher Page

  A Totally Bound Publication

  The Other F-Word

  ISBN # 978-0-85715-667-9

  ©Copyright MK Schiller 2014

  Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright March 2014

  Edited by Rebecca Douglas

  Totally Bound Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2014 by Totally Bound Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

  Warning:

  This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Burning and a Sexometer of 1.

  In Other Words

  THE OTHER F-WORD

  MK Schiller

  Book two in The Other Words series

  Damien Wolfe is ferociously sexy. Emmie Mason is fastidiously stubborn. When fate brings them together, they are both challenged by the other F-word…forever.

  Fashionable forty-four-year-old, Emmie Mason is content with her fastidious life. She has everything she needs in her loving family and friends. Her eldest daughter, Marley, has married the man of her dreams, and she has a new grandchild. What more could a woman ask for?

  She isn’t prepared for fate to slap her in the face in the form of a bridal bouquet. Or worse, to run into the fantasy-inducing, eye-catching, panty-dropping, swoon-worthy man she’s been thinking about for over a year, even though they only danced together once.

  As it turns out, thirty-year-old real estate mogul Damien Wolfe has been thinking about her too. Damien’s flirty, funny and forthright personality challenges Emmie and tilts her world. But it’s his kind soul and compassionate demeanour that really frighten her.

  He’s easy to fall for, but how could she ever recover if she risked her heart to him? Can they both overcome their fears and commit to that other F-word…Forever?

  Dedication

  Dear fellow romance lover, thank you for picking up my book. I hope you enjoy Damien and Emmie’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are many people whose support made this work possible. Thank you to Totally Bound for believing in my work and my diligent editor, Rebecca Douglas for her mad skills. Thank you to my loving family, Pat, Nicole, Justin, Mom and Dad for all their support and living with all the sacrifices of having an absentee member while I was focused on the spell of Damien Wolfe. Thank you to my beta readers for your feedback and suggestions. Thank you to the amazing artists whose music inspired me while writing this tale (no need to be specific—all titles are listed throughout the book). Thank you to all the readers who continue to support Indie authors like myself, and vesting your valuable time on our work. Keep reading and never stop looking for your happily ever after!

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  We Belong: Pat Benatar, written by Lowen & Navarro

  Single Ladies: Beyoncé, Columbia Records

  iPod: Apple, Inc.

  Christian Louboutin: Christian Louboutin

  Porn Star Dancing: My Darkest Days

  Climb Up On My Music: Rodriguez

  Jessie: Joshua Kadison

  The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones

  9 to 5: Dolly Parton

  Californication: Red Hot Chili Peppers

  Forever in Blue Jeans: Neil Diamond

  Rocky Horror: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 20th Century Fox

  London Bridge: Fergie, written by Stacy Ferguson, Jamal Jones, Sean Garrett & Mike Hartnett

  Hey Jude: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

  The Post-American World: Fareed Zakana, W. W. Norton & Company

  Love Bites: Def Leppard, written by Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Steve Clark, Rick Savage & Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange

  Habitat for Humanity: Habitat for Humanity International

  Detroit Tigers: Detroit Tigers

  Chicago Cubs: Chicago Cubs

  Country Girl: Luke Bryan, Dallas Davidson

  Cocky: Kid Rock, written by Beauregard, Ritchie & Shaffer

  Step Up: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

  Magic Mike: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

  Hips Don’t Lie: Shakira, Wyclef Jean, Jerry ‘Wonder’ Duplessis, Omar Alfanno & LaTavia Parker

  Believer: American Authors

  iTunes: Apple, Inc

  Love Song: Sara Bareilles

  I Will Wait: Mumford & Sons, written by Marcus Mumford

  Let it Be: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

  We Can Work it Out: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

  Sorry: Buckcherry, written by Josh Todd, Keith Nelson & Marti Frederiksen

  Crazy Bitch: Buckcherry, written by Josh Todd & Keith Nelson

  A Beautiful Mess: Jason Mraz, Mona Tavakoli, Chaska Potter, Mai Bloomfield & Becky Gebhardt

  The North Face: The North Face, Inc.

  Wasting Time: Kid Rock, written by R.J. Ritchie, M. Shafer & L. Buckingham

  Collide: Kid Rock, with Sheryl Crow and Bob Seger

  Mrs Robinson: Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon

  The Graduate: Embassy Pictures

  About a Girl: Nirvana, written by Kurt Cobain

  Polo: Ralph Lauren Corporation

  Stepford: Ira Levin/Paramount Pictures

  Whatever You Like: T.I., written by Clifford Harris, James Scheffer & David Siegel

  Die Hard: 20th Century Fox

  Rambo: David Morrell/Orion Pictures

  Like Janice: Rodriguez

  To Whom it May Concern: Rodriguez

  Crucify Your Mind: Rodriguez

  I Think of You: Rodri

guez

  I Wanna Talk About Me: Toby Keith, written by Bobby Braddock

  Seven Nation Army: White Stripes, written by Jack White

  I Won’t Be Long: Beck

  Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols

  Kryptonite: Superman, DC Comics

  Green Bay Packers: Green Bay Packers

  Christian Grey: E.L. James

  SexyBack: Justin Timberlake, Tim Mosley & Nate ‘Danja’ Hills

  Piece of My Heart: Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, written by Jerry Ragovoy & Bert Berns

  A Place in the Sun: Paramount Pictures

  Wall Street: 20th Century Fox

  Gold Digger: Kanye West, Ray Charles & Renald Richard

  Dynasty: CBS Television Distribution

  Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters & David Gilmour

  Hey Mama: Mat Kearny & Jason Lehning

  Hungry Like the Wolf: Duran Duran

  Superman: DC Comics

  Harry Potter: JK Rowling

  Dracula: Bram Stoker

  Sherlock Holmes/Watson: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  The Thorn Birds: Colleen McCullough

  Willy Wonka: Roald Dahl

  The Mad Hatter: Lewis Carroll

  Pennies from Heaven: Columbia Pictures

  Swing Time: RKO Radio Pictures

  The Three Stooges: Columbia Pictures:

  James Bond: Ian Fleming

  Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald

  Mambo No. 5: Lou Bega, written by Dámaso Pérez Prado

  Feels Good at First: Train, written by Monahan & Allen Shamblin

  One Love: Bob Marley and the Wailers, written by Bob Marley & Curtis Mayfield

  Home Alone: 20th Century Fox

  KFC: Yum! Brands, Inc.

  Pizza Hut: Pizza Hut, Inc.

  China Palace: China Palace

  Here Comes the Sun: The Beatles, written by George Harrison

  Barbie: Mattel, Inc.

  Pucci: Emilio Pucci

  Frisbee: Wham-O Toys, Inc.

  Chapter One

  A child’s happiness is a mother’s joy. Today there was no shortage of joy. It was seeping out of my pores, or maybe those were tears. She was a vision of perfection in white organza and antique lace. Even the simple infinity tattoo that graced her right shoulder looked elegant. She told me it matched up with his when he stood behind her. I blinked, fighting back the salty drops threatening to ruin my makeup—Stevie would go into a rampage. “You look so beautiful, honey.”

  Marley turned to me, head over her shoulder, ten shades of blonde done up in sophisticated, shiny curls and pale blue eyes that were as crystal clear as Lake Michigan on a sunny day. “Thanks, Mom.”

  I took her hand in mine. “I’m so proud of you,” I said in a quiet whisper.

  “I can’t believe this is actually happening. It still feels like a dream…the good kind.”

  I embraced her then, feeling all the emotions of the past year in that one hug. Marley had had so many challenges in her life. As a mother, her pain was mine to bear. It came with many sleepless nights, and years of guilt weighing on my shoulders like an anchor that wouldn’t yield. She’d never once blamed me for any of it, but I had enough guilt for both of us. Not today, though. Today was all about happiness and hope. Today she was marrying a man who cherished her. One who loved her so much, he’d fight all her demons with her…for her.

  “Damn, I can’t believe they forgot the white roses in your bouquet,” Stevie grumbled, bringing us all back to the present. She’d kept Marley on track for the wedding, but she was grating on everyone’s nerves with her Nazi bridal planning. Still, looking at Marley in her strapless A-line gown, it seemed worth it.

  “I don’t care, Stevie. The orchids are fine by themselves.”

  “That’s not the point. This has to be perfect,” Stevie said, smoothing out her long, chestnut-coloured hair that matched mine.

  Marley narrowed her eyes and sighed so hard the golden locks on her forehead flew, even though Dillon had sprayed them down. “Listen, I’ve had about enough of your crap. I don’t care about the flowers.”

  “That’s why I’m here. Someone needs to care.” Stevie adjusted the black satin halter dress Marley had picked out. I had an inkling it was Stevie who’d actually picked them out—she was my bossy girl. “If it was up to you, we’d all be in jeans right now.”

  “You guys cut it out already,” Billie interjected, trying to feign authority as the maid of honour.

  A mother’s job was never done and it was time for me to step in. “Both of you cut it out, or I’ll send you to your separate corners for a timeout.”

  “You can’t give me a timeout on my wedding day.”

  “You may be getting married, but I am your mother and I most certainly can. You know Stevie only wants today to be perfect for you. And Stevie, you know Marley’s not fussy about the details like you are.”

  They stared at each other like two fighters assessing each other in the ring, but I could see their frustration dissipate as quickly as it had begun. These were my daughters and I knew them like the back of my hand.

  Marley’s mouth crinkled in a smile. “How come you always have to get your way?”

  Stevie crossed her arms and looked down at the designer stilettos on her feet. “I didn’t get everything. The tomboy in you always wins despite how much I try to make you a lady.”

  “What does that mean?” Billie asked.

  Both girls smiled and the miniature battle was over. Marley lifted the hem of her dress. We all stared, slightly in awe at the gleaming white combat boots strung with fancy lace bows that adorned her feet. They were feminine and tough. They were Marley.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Billie widened her eyes.

  “Where in the world did you get those?” I smirked.

  “Stevie went to a hundred different places and finally found someone to dye a pair for me. They were a surprise.”

  Stevie and Marley were like oil and water, but don’t all good recipes need both ingredients? All three of my girls could bicker. At the end of the day though, they were the best of friends and if one was hurt, the others would come after you, with me leading the pack.

  “I love them,” I said.

  “Me too,” Billie admitted.

  Stevie hugged Marley, careful not to press too close to her dress. “This is you, Marley—fancy dress and combat boots. French manicure and a fist that could punch through steel. I don’t know any other girl who could pull off that combination.”

  Both girls stared at each other, lips quivering, threatening to give away to the sobs of happiness that this moment was bringing all of us.

  “Don’t you dare cry!” Dillon said, startling all of us. He slammed the door shut then strode over to us. He looked so handsome in his black suit complete with skinny tie, reminiscent of an earlier time. “Lean your head back so the tears don’t wipe off your make-up. Both of you.”

  He’d started out as Marley’s best friend, but we all loved him. As far as I was concerned, he was my son. I’d symbolically adopted him the moment he’d told me his parents had disowned him for what they referred to as his ‘lifestyle choices’.

  “How’s Rick?” Marley inquired as Dillon wiped the corners of her eyes with a tissue.

  “He’s nervous.”

  “He is?” The alarm in Marley’s voice caused it to waver.

  It was hard to believe—Rick was composed and confident in all things. He fit into our family seamlessly as Stevie’s husband, Adam, did. They were also my sons.

  Dillon shrugged. “I think he’s afraid you’re gonna be a runaway bride. He sent me in here to check on you.”

  “He doesn’t have to worry about that. That man couldn’t get rid of me even if he wanted to.”

  “Good thing he doesn’t want to.” Dillon reached into his pocket, taking out several Zesty bars. Rick had introduced us to the protein bars, and we all loved them. I think our family single handedly supported the compa

ny now. “I thought we could have a last minute dish session before he makes an honest woman out of you,” he said, throwing a bar to each of us.

  “That’ll never happen,” Billie said.

  “Thanks, Dills.” Marley squeezed his arm.

  “Dish…the girls in this family make beautiful brides,” he said.

  Stevie smiled gratefully. It was just a little over a year ago that we’d been celebrating her wedding to Adam. That was Dillon. He always came up with the right thing to say to make a girl smile.

  “Dish…I think I’m the happiest mother there ever was right now,” I said, the tears burning my eyes. Dillon was right there with his monogrammed handkerchief, faintly fragranced with expensive cologne.

  “Okay, dish is a bad idea right now,” Stevie said.

  “Personally, I’m glad to be here with you chicks. Rick is kind of grumpy.”

  That was surprising. Rick always had a sweet smile, especially for my daughter. Come to think of it, Marley was being grumpy too. I’d attributed that to pre-wedding jitters.

  We all honed in on Marley’s wry smile. “Dish,” we said in unison.

  She turned to the mirror, adjusting her veil. “We decided to forgo dessert this week.”

  “And by dessert, you mean—”

  “Yes, Dills, I mean sex. We haven’t even kissed. We thought it would be more special if we waited, like the first time. Rick gets agitated when he’s denied gratification.”

  “He’s not the only one,” Billie said in a low voice.

  “Well, let’s get the show on the road then so you can get to it,” Dillon said, patting Marley on the back.

  This was an odd conversation. Then again we weren’t the most traditional family. We loved unconditionally, and at times, unconventionally, but we were there for each other.

  Dillon went back to be with Rick and the other groomsman. The girls and I made our way down the stairs to the gardens of the Wilston hotel, where Marley and Rick would say their vows under a canopy of golden stars and aromatic gardenias.

  I took her arm, readying to give her that last piece of motherly advice. It wasn’t my style to tell my girls how to live their lives—I was just there to hold them up so they wouldn’t fall, pick them up when they did and help them walk with their heads held high. I’d bitten my tongue so much with Marley, I was surprised it was still attached in my mouth.

Table of Contents

Legal Page

Title Page

Book Description

Dedication

Trademarks Acknowledgement

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Epilogue

New Excerpt

About the Author

Publisher Page

A Totally Bound Publication

The Other F-Word

ISBN #
978-0-85715-667-9

©Copyright MK Schiller 2014

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright March 2014

Edited by Rebecca Douglas

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2014 by Totally Bound Publishing,
Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Totally Burning
and a
Sexometer
of
1.

In Other Words

THE OTHER F-WORD

MK Schiller

Book two in The Other Words series

Damien Wolfe is ferociously sexy. Emmie Mason is fastidiously stubborn. When fate brings them together, they are both challenged by the other F-word…forever.

Fashionable forty-four-year-old, Emmie Mason is content with her fastidious life. She has everything she needs in her loving family and friends. Her eldest daughter, Marley, has married the man of her dreams, and she has a new grandchild. What more could a woman ask for?

She isn’t prepared for fate to slap her in the face in the form of a bridal bouquet. Or worse, to run into the fantasy-inducing, eye-catching, panty-dropping, swoon-worthy man she’s been thinking about for over a year, even though they only danced together once.

As it turns out, thirty-year-old real estate mogul Damien Wolfe has been thinking about her too. Damien’s flirty, funny and forthright personality challenges Emmie and tilts her world. But it’s his kind soul and compassionate demeanour that really frighten her.

He’s easy to fall for, but how could she ever recover if she risked her heart to him? Can they both overcome their fears and commit to that other F-word…Forever?

Dedication

Dear fellow romance lover, thank you for picking up my book. I hope you enjoy Damien and Emmie’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are many people whose support made this work possible. Thank you to Totally Bound for believing in my work and my diligent editor, Rebecca Douglas for her mad skills. Thank you to my loving family, Pat, Nicole, Justin, Mom and Dad for all their support and living with all the sacrifices of having an absentee member while I was focused on the spell of Damien Wolfe. Thank you to my beta readers for your feedback and suggestions. Thank you to the amazing artists whose music inspired me while writing this tale (no need to be specific—all titles are listed throughout the book). Thank you to all the readers who continue to support Indie authors like myself, and vesting your valuable time on our work. Keep reading and never stop looking for your happily ever after!

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

We Belong
: Pat Benatar, written by
Lowen & Navarro

Single Ladies
: Beyoncé, Columbia Records

iPod: Apple, Inc.

Christian Louboutin: Christian Louboutin

Porn Star Dancing
: My Darkest Days

Climb Up On My Music
: Rodriguez

Jessie
: Joshua Kadison

The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones

9 to 5
: Dolly Parton

Californication
: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Forever in Blue Jeans
: Neil Diamond

Rocky Horror
:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show,
20
th
Century Fox

London Bridge
: Fergie, written by
Stacy Ferguson, Jamal Jones, Sean Garrett & Mike Hartnett

Hey Jude
: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

The Post-American World
: Fareed Zakana,
W. W. Norton & Company

Love Bites
: Def Leppard, written by
Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Steve Clark, Rick Savage & Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange

Habitat for Humanity: Habitat for Humanity International

Detroit Tigers: Detroit Tigers

Chicago Cubs: Chicago Cubs

Country Girl
: Luke Bryan, Dallas Davidson

Cocky
: Kid Rock, written by
Beauregard, Ritchie & Shaffer

Step Up
: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Magic Mike
: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Hips Don’t Lie
: Shakira, Wyclef Jean,
Jerry ‘Wonder’ Duplessis, Omar Alfanno & LaTavia Parker

Believer
: American Authors

iTunes: Apple, Inc

Love Song
: Sara Bareilles

I Will Wait
: Mumford & Sons, written by Marcus Mumford

Let it Be
: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

We Can Work it Out
: The Beatles, written by Lennon-McCartney

Sorry
: Buckcherry, written by Josh Todd, Keith Nelson & Marti Frederiksen

Crazy Bitch
: Buckcherry, written by Josh Todd & Keith Nelson

A Beautiful Mess
: Jason Mraz
, Mona Tavakoli, Chaska Potter, Mai Bloomfield & Becky Gebhardt

The North Face: The North Face, Inc.

Wasting Time
: Kid Rock, written by
R.J. Ritchie, M. Shafer & L. Buckingham

Collide
: Kid Rock, with Sheryl Crow and Bob Seger

Mrs Robinson
: Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon

The Graduate
: Embassy Pictures

About a Girl
: Nirvana, written by Kurt Cobain

Polo: Ralph Lauren Corporation

Stepford: Ira Levin/Paramount Pictures

Whatever You Like
: T.I., written by
Clifford Harris, James Scheffer & David Siegel

Die Hard
: 20
th
Century Fox

Rambo
: David Morrell/Orion Pictures

Like Janice
: Rodriguez

To Whom it May Concern
: Rodriguez

Crucify Your Mind
:
Rodriguez

I Think of You
: Rodriguez

I Wanna Talk About Me
: Toby Keith, written by Bobby Braddock

Seven Nation Army
: White Stripes, written by Jack White

I Won’t Be Long:
Beck

Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols

Kryptonite: Superman, DC Comics

Green Bay Packers: Green Bay Packers

Christian Grey: E.L. James

SexyBack
: Justin Timberlake,
Tim Mosley & Nate ‘Danja’ Hills

Piece of My Heart
: Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, written by Jerry Ragovoy & Bert Berns

A Place in the Sun
: Paramount Pictures

Wall Street
: 20
th
Century Fox

Gold Digger
:
Kanye West, Ray Charles & Renald Richard

Dynasty
: CBS Television Distribution

Wish You Were Here
: Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters & David Gilmour

Hey Mama
: Mat Kearny
& Jason Lehning

Hungry Like the Wolf
: Duran Duran

Superman: DC Comics

Harry Potter: JK Rowling

Dracula: Bram Stoker

Sherlock Holmes/Watson: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Thorn Birds
: Colleen McCullough

Willy Wonka: Roald Dahl

The Mad Hatter: Lewis Carroll

Pennies from Heaven
: Columbia Pictures

Swing Time
: RKO Radio Pictures

The Three Stooges
: Columbia Pictures:

James Bond
:
Ian Fleming

Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mambo No. 5
: Lou Bega, written by
Dámaso Pérez Prado

Feels Good at First
: Train, written by
Monahan & Allen Shamblin

One Love
: Bob Marley and the Wailers, written by Bob Marley & Curtis Mayfield

Home Alone
: 20
th
Century Fox

KFC: Yum! Brands, Inc.

Pizza Hut: Pizza Hut, Inc.

China Palace: China Palace

Here Comes the Sun
: The Beatles, written by George Harrison

1
What’s in It for Me?
Your Personal Guided Book Tour

This book will make you a better leader by helping you tap into a phenomenal resource all around you. You may not always be aware of it, and chances are you’re not utilizing it very well right now. But the good news is you’ve already paid for it, and you and your organization continue to add to it every day in many ways. It’s failure, the other F word. Although no one likes to fail, truly successful leaders know how to turn a bad experience from a regret into a resource. They put failure to work, driving innovation, strengthening genuine collaboration, and accelerating growth in their organizations.

We teach about innovation, leadership, strategy, and entrepreneurship. Our executive, graduate, and undergraduate students at University of California Berkeley and Princeton come from backgrounds ranging from business to engineering and healthcare to energy. In all our classes, we stress that entrepreneurs, innovators, product designers, and leaders of change initiatives need to answer the one key question on the minds of their potential customers, users, and colleagues: WIIFM? That’s short for: What’s In It For Me? Translate what you are trying to do into terms your audience can understand and benefits they can appreciate.

We’re holding ourselves to that same standard. So to begin, we’ve created a personal crib sheet for you on the key points we’d like you to think about…

1. Failure matters. Why? Because we spend much, if not most, of our lives creating it, dealing with it, and trying to learn from it.
2. Failure’s like gravity. It’s everywhere—a fact of life for every organization at every organizational phase, from startup to growing business and established enterprise.
3. Failure is too often a taboo topic. That’s why we call it the other F word. If you can’t talk about it, you can’t manage it, or learn from it. Take it out of the shadows.
4. You’ve already paid for it, so use it. As a leader or team member, you can convert failure from a repeated regret to a strategic resource that can help you drive innovation, better engage your colleagues’ real capabilities, and accelerate growth.
5. Fear of failure is failure’s force multiplier. It distorts the likelihood of failure and exaggerates its consequences. It is one of your most important challenges in getting your organization to go where you want it to go.
6. While we suggest a more open and practical direct relationship with failure, that doesn’t mean tolerating it as an excuse for incompetence, negligence, or indifference.
7. How you deal with failures of your team members is the acid test of whether you trust them, and vice versa. And trust is essential to address the biggest failure in most organizations: Employees are not meaningfully engaged in their work or mission.
8. If you’re serious about innovation or entrepreneurship, be prepared for the failure that often comes with the experiments and risks associated with those objectives. Use it to understand what you don’t know or haven’t yet delivered.
9. Our seven-stage Failure Value Cycle framework can help your organization to better understand and harness failure as a value-add resource:
   1. Respect the power and likelihood of failure
   2. Rehearse for your most significant failure scenarios to develop better, faster reflexes
   3. Recognize its signs sooner
   4. React to failure situations more appropriately in the moment
   5. Reflect deeply and honestly on their underlying causes so you can craft better strategies going forward
   6. Rebound confidently, based on the lessons learned
   7. Remember the insights you gained, to strengthen your culture’s ability to leverage future failures
10. Failure is today’s lesson for tomorrow. Put it to work to help you accelerate innovation, intensify employee engagement, and drive growth. You and your organization are fallible. Admitting that reality and leveraging the failures you create builds the trust you need to create those results.

Now that you know where we’re headed, let’s tell you four places we won’t take you. First, we won’t waste your time exploring the usual clichés about the other F word, like to err is human and learn from your mistakes. While we know how difficult it can be to put that understanding into action, ours is not a personal psychology book or self-help manual.

Second, we’re not going to take out our pom-poms to join the fail fast, fail often cheerleading chorus from Silicon Valley. We think you’ve already heard that enough, too.

Third, this is not another one of those “I struggled, I persevered, I succeeded” heroic personal memoirs. Great, inspiring stuff, but we’ll leave that genre to others.

Fourth, although we are teachers, this is not an academic book per se. We hope it will be used in classrooms worldwide, but it is not written as a textbook. Our tone is informal and straightforward. We want to engage in a conversation, not a lecture. We invite you to share your experience and perspectives with us on our book website: www.theotherfwordbook.com.

Find Yourself Here

We’ve written this book with a practical agenda in mind: to challenge you to think about failure differently, manage it more effectively, and leverage it more creatively in your organization. We’ll offer you specific, straightforward suggestions for how to do that, with examples drawn from our own extensive research and experience as well as insights from effective leaders we’ve interviewed across different organizational settings and professions, both domestically and internationally.

You’ll learn how to deal more effectively with the reality and inevitability of failure. We’ll offer you a practical, seven-stage framework, the Failure Value Cycle, which you can use to apply these lessons in your organization, starting tomorrow. Along the way, we provide practical exercises for you and your team to better understand key issues and put these insights to work.

There are more specific ways you can benefit from our book, depending on your particular responsibilities and interests. We trust you can find them yourself after scanning the following dozen profiles, whether you run a large established organization or a small to medium-sized business, are starting a new venture, or are simply curious about our topic:

• If you’re in charge of your organization, you’ll benefit from insights of successful peers who are leading or have led global Fortune 100 enterprises, high-potential startups, thriving mid-size businesses, important government organizations, and highly respected nonprofits, to name a few. They’ll share lessons learned and suggestions for how you can more effectively address the fear of failure as well as leverage the power of the other F word to drive innovation and growth.

  In our Failure Value Cycle, you’ll learn specific steps you can take to bring out the best in the people you are leading. You should see the payoff in greater candor among your colleagues as you consider the choices ahead of you and their risks. You should witness increased evidence of creativity across your organization as your workers get more comfortable with a less-punitive culture that embraces excellence while accommodating good-faith experimentation.

• If you’re in marketing or sales, you deal with the other F word every day, unless you are converting and closing 100 percent of your target prospects (in which case, you should be writing a book). A marketing campaign or sales call that doesn’t yield what you’d hoped for, while unfortunate, also indicates what you don’t know, or haven’t yet shown, to convince your potential customers you’re the answer to their needs.

  Our book can help you be more effective on your next foray into the marketplace. Since you deal most directly with your competition and see firsthand new trends in the market, your insights are essential to the success of your firm. Imagine how much more your cash register would ring if you could improve your yield by just a few percentage points.

• If you manage the technology/IT side of your organization, you understand the accelerating and disruptive pace of change. Offensively, these changes can unleash opportunities for new, creative products and services, redefine how you leverage ideas and resources, and even redesign core business processes. Defensively, they pose brand-tarnishing risks like network security breaches, getting outflanked by more nimble competitors and startups, and being hampered by legacy systems and outdated technology.

  Stay tuned. Our Failure Value Cycle can help you align your agenda with the most important priorities of your clients, even if they don’t know the difference between the Zachman Stack and a short stack of pancakes. Applied rigorously to your own domain, it can complement your existing tools to anticipate, identify, and preempt potential failures-in-waiting, whether occasioned by malevolent hackers from the outside or inadequately examined failure scenarios inside.

• If you work in finance, you’re concerned with how your organization manages its resources to get the best results from its investments and spending. You’re also keenly aware of the disparity between the strategic objectives and commitments your CEO has established and the limited resources you have to allocate. We can’t promise you a silver bullet, but we can offer you silver buckshot to help hit your targets.

  We’ll show you how to extract unexpected value from your organization’s “garden mulch pile,” the accumulated residue from past product, technology, or market failures. We’ll provide examples of how others have increased their ROSI (return on sunk investments), whether in the form of reconfiguring product offerings or repositioning solutions for entirely new markets. We can help you get more mileage out of your investments in innovation and operational improvement by facilitating an environment in which potential failures get flagged more rapidly, and better ideas for future actions get discussed and critiqued more openly. You know better than most how relatively small improvements in your working capital or net portfolio returns can cascade into dramatic positive results for your organization.

• If you’re involved with strategic planning, you’re in the business of recommending and making bets about the future. While leadership is fundamentally assertion in the face of uncertainty, your role is to advise the head…

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