在我的職業(yè)生涯進入第30個年頭的時候，有一次當(dāng)我講述自己的管理小故事時，我的父親打斷了我，問道：“你的事業(yè)相當(dāng)成功，這是因為你真的很聰明，還是因為你只是運氣好？”仔細(xì)思考后，我的答案是兩者兼有。一方面，我父親給我遺傳了一部分“聰明”的良好基因——他是一名火箭專家——我也接受了良好的教育，進一步培養(yǎng)了這些天賦。

另一方面，我也有足夠的運氣，抓住了一些很好的機會，由于出色的業(yè)績被提拔至管理層，與一些優(yōu)異的領(lǐng)袖和導(dǎo)師進行了直接接觸。在我的職業(yè)生涯中，從雷富禮到邁克爾?波特，再到斯坦?麥克里斯托爾將軍，這些指導(dǎo)者的智慧讓我受益匪淺。這些人在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力、戰(zhàn)略、未來管理等許多問題上，幫助我在思想和個人上有所發(fā)展。

然而，我生涯中形成的最寶貴的特質(zhì)，并非出自這群杰出的領(lǐng)袖的指導(dǎo)。我學(xué)到的最重要的教訓(xùn)并不來自其他人的經(jīng)驗和智慧，而是來源于我自己的經(jīng)歷。在我看來，那段經(jīng)歷是我作為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人以來表現(xiàn)最糟糕的一次。

2005年，我在Scotts Miracle-Gro負(fù)責(zé)北美地區(qū)的銷售。公司當(dāng)時剛宣布收購了一家位于舊金山、名為Smith & Hawkin的小型戶外產(chǎn)品零售商。我們的計劃是把它轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槲覀児镜膽敉馍钇放?。這個品牌聲譽很好，我們在從大型經(jīng)銷商到小型草坪和花卉商店的各級分銷領(lǐng)域也處于領(lǐng)先位置。表面上看，我們似乎已經(jīng)擁有了成功的所有要素。

公司決定，最好的辦法就是讓Scotts的高管來負(fù)責(zé)運營，讓我們這次最新的收購成果變成一種批發(fā)模式。Scotts的主席和首席執(zhí)行官吉姆?哈格多恩讓我擔(dān)任這個項目的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。起初我很猶豫。我喜歡領(lǐng)導(dǎo)北美地區(qū)的銷售，感覺我正在發(fā)揮作用。但是吉姆讓我相信，公司需要我來迎接這次挑戰(zhàn)，并表示這對我個人的發(fā)展也很有幫助。

如果我成功了，對每個人來說都是好事。如果我失敗了，如他所說“撞得鼻青臉腫”，對我來說也是一次重要的學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)歷。更重要的是，他和董事會也有機會看看我會如何應(yīng)對失敗。吉姆對我說，他們還沒見過我失敗，如果我沒有展示出自己應(yīng)對失敗的能力，就不可能在Scotts內(nèi)部晉升到總裁的崗位。

當(dāng)時，這個建議聽起來就像奇怪的評價，不過，我還是把它當(dāng)作個人的挑戰(zhàn)。我去了舊金山，開始了我在Smith & Hawken的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)之旅，成敗在此一舉了。

起初一切順利，我很快就掌握了領(lǐng)導(dǎo)零售業(yè)務(wù)的心得，試圖開始把它轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榕l(fā)模式。我們與塔吉特公司（Target）達成了批發(fā)協(xié)議，搭造了向餐飲和酒店業(yè)銷售產(chǎn)品的架構(gòu)。在這個轉(zhuǎn)型過程中，我們的核心業(yè)務(wù)需要穩(wěn)定運轉(zhuǎn)，這樣才能提供轉(zhuǎn)型所需的資金（這是我當(dāng)時沒有重視的關(guān)鍵要素）。我認(rèn)為我的計劃十拿九穩(wěn)，排除了所有不可預(yù)知的事件，已經(jīng)要把另一次成功收入囊中了。

2007年，經(jīng)濟危機爆發(fā)了。當(dāng)你要靠銷售價格3000美元的戶外柚木餐桌椅為生時，低迷的經(jīng)濟和糟糕的房地產(chǎn)市場給你營造的環(huán)境就與穩(wěn)定完全無關(guān)。我的戰(zhàn)略很快就開始瓦解。由于核心的要素“穩(wěn)定”已經(jīng)不復(fù)存，我們的收購效果遠(yuǎn)低于預(yù)期，將公司轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槠鹾衔覀兡Ｊ降呐l(fā)商的計劃突然就失敗了?？雌饋砦易龅奈ㄒ怀晒Φ氖虑椋褪钦衼砹宋业睦^任者，來自沃爾瑪?shù)母呒壣倘恕?/p>

最后，吉姆?哈格多恩看到了我是如何面對失敗的。我想必是通過了他的考驗，我的職業(yè)生涯也沒有結(jié)束，因為我在2010年成為了Scotts Miracle-Gro的總裁。不過，就算我沒有獲得這個職位，我依舊學(xué)到了能用于任何地方的寶貴教訓(xùn)：

?時刻做好可能出問題的準(zhǔn)備，做好應(yīng)急計劃，不斷評估風(fēng)險。

?確保你的團隊完全理解計劃，接受計劃；一個忙碌的團隊的群策群力要勝過一個單獨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。

?不要對自己的能力過度自信，以保留和謙遜的姿態(tài)把握每一個機遇。

我從這次失敗中學(xué)到的教訓(xùn)，被當(dāng)時Scotts的總裁鮑勃?博恩斯托克很好地概括了出來：你需要理解騎師和馬匹的差異，再優(yōu)秀的騎師也不可能騎著劣馬獲勝。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

本文作者Barry Sanders是McChrystal Group管理合伙人。

Thirty years into my career, my father interrupted one of my management stories to ask me a question: “You have been reasonably successful in your career. Are you really that smart or have you just been lucky?”After considering the question, my answer to him was actually both. On the one hand, he passed on some decent genetics in the “smarts department”– my father was a rocket scientist — and I received a decent education to nurture these gifts.

On the other hand, I was lucky enough to receive some great opportunities, progressive performance-based management promotions, and direct exposure to some amazing leaders and mentors. In my career, I have benefited from the collective wisdom ofvarious advisors, from AG Laffley to Dr. Michael Porter to General Stan McChrystal. Each of this individuals have shaped my thinking and personal development on a host of issues from leadership to strategy to the future of management. However, the most formative part of my career didn’t come from my access to these tremendous leaders. The most important lesson I learned was not from the experiences and wisdom of others, but from my own, arising out of a situation that I would characterize as one of my worst performances as a leader.

In 2005, I was leading North American Sales forScotts Miracle-Gro Company. The company had just announced the acquisition of a small outdoor products retailer in San Francisco called Smith & Hawkin. Our master plan was to turn the company into the outdoor living brand for our organization. The brand was respected and we were a leader in distribution at scale — from mass retailers to the smaller lawn and garden centers. On the surface, it appeared as though we had all the ingredients for success.

The company decided the best approach would be to put a Scotts executive in to run the operation and transition our most recent acquisition over to our wholesale model. I was asked by Jim Hagedorn (Scotts Chairman and CEO) to take on the leadership role for this project. At first I was hesitant. I enjoyed heading North American Sales and felt I was making an impact. But Jim convinced me that the company needed me to take on this challenge, and made the case that it would be great for my own personal development. As he explained it: If I was successful, it would be net positive for everyone. If I failed – -or as he said it, “got a bloody nose”– it would still be an important learning experience for me. More importantly, it would also give him and the board a chance to see how I responded to failure. Jim advised me that I could never make my way up to the president role within Scott’s until I showed them how I coped with failure, as they had yet to see me fail.

At the time, this advice seemed to be strange commentary, but I nevertheless took it on as a personal challenge. I shipped off to San Francisco to start my new leadership role with Smith & Hawken, prepared to sink or swim. Things started off well, and I very rapidly moved up the learning curve of leading a retail business and trying to convert it into a wholesale model. We were able to put a wholesale agreement in place with @targetTarget and create a structure to sell product into the restaurant and hospitality industries as well. During the process of converting our acquisition to a wholesaler model, the core business needed to stay stable enough to fund the transition (a critical factor I discounted at the time). Stability was the lynchpin of my strategy, and barring unpredictable events, I was on track to hang my hat on another success.

Enter the financial crisis in 2007. When you’re making a living selling $3,000 teak outdoor dining sets, a souring economy and a tanking housing market is far from a stable environment. My strategy quickly began to unravel. With its core stability undermined, our acquisition dramatically underperformed and the vision of converting it into a wholesaler that could plug into our model was suddenly failing. It seemed as though the only successful action I took was recruiting my replacement, a senior merchant from Walmart.

Ultimately, Jim Hagedorn was able to see how I responded to not succeeding. I must have passed his test, as it did not end my career, as I went on to become president of Scotts Miracle-Gro in 2010. But even if I hadn’t gotten the position, I still learned valuable lessons that I could take anywhere:

Always be prepared in case what can go wrong, does; have contingency plans in place and constantly assess the risks.

Ensure your team completely understands the plans and has bought into the idea; the collective intelligence of an engaged team far outweighs that of a lone leader.

Never be over-confident in your own abilities; approach every opportunity with reservation and humility.

The lessons I learned from this failure are best captured by something I was told by Bob Bernstock, the president of Scotts at the time: you have to understand the difference between the jockey and the horse. A great jockey can never win riding a bad horse.