Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Successful leaders have learned that failure is not only a constant companion, but success ultimately comes from learning how to leverage it.
On Saturday, Real Madrid defeated Liverpool in the Champions League Final 1-0. Afterwards, the two teams participated in one of the great traditions in all of athletics.
As shown in the video below and picture above, the winning team’s players, in this case Real Madrid, form a pathway towards the trophy stand. The losing team, in this case Liverpool, then walks through the aisle of winning players where they will then accept runner-up medals. Afterwards, Real Madrid will then accept the winning trophy.
It is an extraordinary demonstration of humility, grace, and sportsmanship which all leaders can learn from. After watching the 44 second video of this moment below, I will follow up with seven lessons on how leaders should handle defeat I gleaned from the Liverpool soccer club.
This is how leaders should handle defeat. From the 2022 UCL Championship Trophy Ceremony | CBS Sports Golazo https://t.co/sySi2pOf9m via @YouTube
— Brian Dodd (@BrianKDodd) May 29, 2022
The following are 7 Lessons On How Leaders Should Handle Defeat from the video above:
The Higher Up You Go The More Painful Failure Will Be
On May 22nd, Liverpool’s incomparable manager Jurgen Klopp said, “If you want to win big, you have to be ready to lose big.” Previously he said, “The higher you climb performance-wise, the more likely it gets you’ll have a stressful conclusion of the season.” Baseball has a saying, swing big, miss big. Hopeless romantics often point out it is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
Leaders understand it is those who attempt to rise to the highest levels of their professions that often fall the farthest depths. But this is the leadership journey and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Watch Klopp’s comments below:
🗣️"If you want to win big, you have to be ready to lose big"
Jurgen Klopp reacts to Liverpool's Premier League title heartbreak.pic.twitter.com/tYx3FfDeuG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 22, 2022
Leaders Always Go First, Even In Failure
One of the prices leaders must be willing to pay is that they go first. The first person to walk through the second-place procession was Klopp. Shortly afterwards came team captain Jordan Henderson. Their attitude and professionalism set the tone for the entire club.
When your organization experiences failure or disappointment (and it will), leaders must be diligent. The entire organization will take its cue from them. Klopp provided a perfect example on how to handle a loss.
Show Class And Humility In Failure
I can only speak for myself. If gave everything I had for an entire year to win a championship, something I’ve dreamed of and prepared for my entire life, and came up one goal short, it would be very difficult to walk past and congratulate every member of the team who just defeated me. The feelings would just be too raw. But that is what the Liverpool players did. Their class and humility eclipsed their personal feelings. This is the perfect model for us to follow as leaders when we experience failure.
Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice
Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” As leaders, especially Christian leaders, we do a great job of weeping with those who weep. But we often do a terrible job of rejoicing with those who rejoice. Perhaps it is because of envy and jealousy. But as you see in the video, a handful of the Liverpool players graciously congratulated their rivals.
Which leads to the next point…
Rivals Not Competitors
The Liverpool players left it all on the field. In a competitive environment, all leaders should do likewise. And afterwards, if you lose, you graciously shake the hand of your rival and thank them because they are making you better.
Failure Is A Data Point To Learn From
Klopp once said, “The only reason for a defeat is to learn from it. If you learn from it, it’s just a result. If you don’t learn from it, it’s a disaster.” He added, “I didn’t suffer too much after we lost. I suffered but I just took it as information and it’s just more information which we all use to carry on.”
For successful leaders, failure is just a data point to learn from.
Learn From Failure And Move Forward
Within 24 hours, Klopp was already talking about the team’s goals for 2023. The Liverpool futbol club will learn from this defeat and come back stronger next year. If you’ve recently experienced a significant defeat, you should as well.
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