Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work in English.
Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I'm a business English coach. I've personally worked with over 1000 international professionals to improve their English communication skills.
Thank you so much for listening.
And today's topic is dealing with failure.
Today, we're going to look at some key ideas around failure and failing in professional life, as well as some great vocabulary that we can use to discuss these ideas and to express our feelings on failure with our colleagues.
So let's get started.
There are many quotes from business leaders and successful people in general about how important failure is as a part of career growth.
Many people have argued that in order to really grow and be successful in any career or field, you must first experience and learn from failure.
For instance, let's take a quote from the author of the Harry Potter series of books, J .K.
Rowling. She said, It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all.
In which case, you have failed by default.
You have failed by default.
That's an interesting phrase, you have failed by default there.
So, what do we mean if we say that something happened by default?
If something happens by By default, it happens only because something else which might have prevented it or changed it has not happened.
Let's say, for instance, you want to start working with me.
I'll usually ask you if you'd like to use Microsoft Teams or Google Meet or maybe Zoom for our meetings.
meetings. If you don't reply, then I'll send you a Zoom link.
That's the default for our meetings.
If nothing happens to change it, then I'll be waiting for you in a Zoom meeting.
Or let's say, for instance, that you want a recording of one of our sessions.
I might tell you that you need to specifically ask me for that because I don't record our meetings by default.
However, if you ask me to, then I can absolutely record them.
The default, however, is not to record sessions.
Let's take a listen now to some other ways that we can talk about failure at work.
Failure is an inevitable part of any career.
If you're not failing, then you're not trying.
Failure is an inevitable part of any career.
If you're not failing, then you're not trying.
in the grand scheme of things this is not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things this is not the end of the world this will likely have This will likely have ramifications beyond just our team.
It'll likely impact the whole company.
Let's start today with a word from that first example, and that is inevitable.
Inevitable. In the first example, we heard failure is an inevitable part of any career.
Failure is an inevitable part of any career.
This might be a new word for you, but I'm guessing that you've heard the word avoid or avoidable.
The word inevitable inevitable actually comes from the same ancient Latin root and therefore means basically the same thing.
If something is inevitable, it means that you can't avoid it.
It's unavoidable. It's inevitable.
There is a famous saying in English that the only two things that are inevitable in life are death and taxes, for instance.
You cannot avoid either of these things.
And I think that we can probably add failure to this short list. For instance, I might say that if I leave work at 5pm, it's inevitable that I'll get stuck in traffic on the way home.
it's inevitable that I'll get stuck in traffic.
Or maybe, as we get closer to the deadline, the team will inevitably get busier.
The team will inevitably get busier.
That's the adverb, inevitably.
Both are really common ways to talk about things that are definitely or certainly going to happen.
I should say that one thing I think I'm going to start doing is putting all of our examples into the show notes.
So if you want to check spellings or anything else, maybe read our examples, then they will be in our show notes there.
I really like the phrase, in the grand scheme of things from the second example.
We heard, in the grand scheme of things, this is not the end of the world.
In the grand scheme of things, this is not the end of the world.
Grand is a word that has a lot of different meanings.
In the UK, it's an informal slang way to to say 1 ,000 pounds, 1 ,000 great British pounds, or maybe even 1 ,000 US dollars or euros.
If I tell you that something costs five grand, I mean it costs 5 ,000 pounds.
If you're in Ireland, then you'll often hear people answer the question, how are you doing, with I'm grand, meaning I'm good, I'm doing well.
However, in this context, we want to think of the word more in the context of the Grand Canyon.
This is the very large and very beautiful place in the United States where the desert suddenly drops down to make a massive open space in the ground, carved out by the Colorado River, quite close to Las Vegas.
When we use grand to describe the Grand Canyon, we mean big, large, massive, humongous, or gargantuan there.
So, when we say the grand scheme of things, we mean that we should think about everything in the world, or maybe everything in our lives, or maybe the company, we're saying that the problem that has occurred is not very important or consequential when we think about everything that is going on.
For instance, if I lose a customer because of a small mistake, maybe one that I made because I I wasn't paying attention, a colleague might tell me that one customer isn't really important in the grand scheme of things.
One customer isn't really important in the grand scheme of things.
I should say that some people choose not to use grand in this case.
For instance, one customer isn't really important in the scheme of things.
This is correct too.
However, it's far more common to include the word grand in this phrase.
In the third example, we heard the word ramifications, ramifications.
I think I might have mentioned this on an earlier podcast, but I've done so many of these now that I'm really not sure.
So let's go through it again.
The example that we heard was this will likely have ramifications beyond just our team.
This will likely have ramifications beyond just our team.
So what are ramifications?
Ramifications are effects or consequences that make things more complicated.
They are often unknown before they happen, and we usually use the word ramifications to talk about bad things, negative things.
We rarely use it to talk about good things.
For instance, if you fail to prepare properly for a meeting or presentation, then you might appear a little unprofessional.
However, However, one of the ramifications of this might be that a colleague gets a promotion instead of you.
It was difficult to see a direct link between those two things at the time, but your boss obviously thought that your colleague was the better fit for this more senior role.
The word ramifications has a very similar meaning to consequences, but has an added emphasis on the effects being unintended and bad.
For this reason, we often hear it in conversations about decisions made on a bigger scale, like political policies maybe, or in a company.
this could be strategy choices made at a high and senior level it's important to note that we usually use this in its plural form with the s on the end even though it's a countable noun we rarely talk about a single ramification however the phrase one of the ramifications or maybe one of the biggest ramifications is definitely common. And if you feel like you've failed to improve your English, then maybe we can work together.
My full -time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills.
So if you need English to do your job, but you don't speak it natively, then I'd love to meet you.
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starting on our very first call we can focus on the specific opportunities that you personally have to improve your english and communication skills and the mistakes that you make most often or cause the biggest problems with your communication and right now you can use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30 % discount off your first booking of 30 or 45 or 60 minutes.
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I've worked with over 1000 non -native English speaking professionals from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them to achieve their goals and I look forward to meeting you.
Taking responsibility when a failure occurs is important.
It's normal to want to blame others when something goes wrong, but people often do this to avoid the uncomfortable feelings that come with admitting their own mistakes.
Jocko Willink was a Navy SEAL, and maybe you've heard of him.
These days, he's an author and leadership speaker.
In his book Extreme Ownership, he says that on any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader.
The leader must own everything in his or her world.
There is no So, with that quote and with that said, let's listen now to a couple of examples of people taking responsibility.
This happened on my watch, so I'm accountable for everything that went wrong.
This happened on my watch, so I'm accountable for everything that went wrong.
I have no intention of passing the book.
This was my responsibility and the book stops with me.
I have no intention of passing the book.
this was my responsibility and the book stops with me I overlooked some key variables and that's entirely on me I overlooked some key variables and that's entirely on me.
Okay, I'm going to try to make a popular culture reference here, so bear with me.
This is really difficult because this podcast has listeners from all over the world, and popular culture changes from country to country.
However, I'm going to hope that at least a few of you saw the show Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones.
Near the very beginning of that show, we're introduced to a character called Jon Snow, who decides to join a military group called the Night's Watch, the Night's Watch. This group is tasked with guarding the wall from, well, whatever is on the other side of the wall.
Honestly, I only watched the first couple of episodes, but I'm told it's a very popular show.
And I do know there's a group called the Night's Watch who guard the wall.
This idea of a specific military unit being called a watch, W -A -T -C -H, a watch, is grounded in real life.
I live close to Scotland and I have family there.
In Scotland, one of the most well -known military units is called the Black Watch, or at least it was called the Black Watch for many, many years.
So, what do we mean when we say watch as a noun in this context?
next. Watch in a military sense means to guard or defend a specific area, especially at night or at dangerous times.
We take this idea of someone being on watch and apply it more generally to our responsibilities and duties at work.
If you say that something happened on your watch, then you're saying that it was while you were responsible for something.
You might hear people in movies from time to time say, not on my watch, not on my watch, which means that while they're responsible for something, a specific bad thing won't happen.
For instance, maybe a customer complains that they had to wait over an hour for someone to answer the phone at your office.
You might say, that would never happen on my watch. That would never happen on my watch. By which you would mean that if you were the person in the office on that day on managing the team, you would never let that kind of thing happen.
In the second example, we heard the phrase, pass the book, pass the book.
That's book, B -U -C -K.
In my northern English accent, you get a very deep U sound.
You can stand under my umbrella, under my umbrella.
So I say book. But this is quite an American phrase And that U sound is a lot softer in most American accents.
So, pass the buck. The buck, instead of in my accent, book, there.
So, this was the example that we heard, I have no intention of passing the buck, or the buck stops with me.
For this explanation, I want to talk a little bit about Harry S.
Truman. So, a quick quiz question in the middle of our podcast today.
Who was Harry S. Truman?
Can you tell me what Harry Truman was famous for?
Harry Truman was an American, an American leader, and from 1945 to 1953, he served as the 33rd President of the United States of America.
The reason I bring up Harry Truman is because of a sign that Truman famously had on his desk.
It was a small wooden sign that read, the buck stops here.
The buck stops here.
Apparently, someone made it for him at home and mailed it to the president.
He liked it so much that he kept it on his desk for the remainder of his presidency, for the rest of his presidency.
So, what did the sign mean?
mean? If you tell people that the book stops here or the book stops with you, then you're saying that you take full responsibility.
You won't try to blame others.
Similarly, if you pass the book, then you blame someone else for failures or problems. For instance, a colleague might tell you that they appreciate you not passing the book on something, which means that they are grateful that you took responsibility for it.
What Truman was saying with this sign on his desk was that decisions made in the US government ultimately come from the direction set by the president.
If something goes wrong, it's his fault.
A noble statement for a leader to make, that's for sure.
I like to think that I'm pretty good at taking responsibility for mistakes at work.
However, I should say that since I work for myself and don't have any employees, I don't have many people I can blame when things go wrong.
There isn't anyone to pass the book to.
Indeed, the book definitely stops with me.
If you want a free sample of the kind of work that we can do together, then you can send me a three -minute video of yourself for an analysis and review on YouTube.
This week, I've got an analysis video of the English skills of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
So feel free to go to Breakout Business English on YouTube, the YouTube channel, and take a look at that I should say this podcast goes out on Monday I think that video is going to go out on Wednesday so if if this podcast has just been released then wait a couple of days and you can see that but there are other analysis videos for Georgia Maloney on there there's one for Emmanuel Macron, there's one for Bruce Lee, there's a few analysis videos on there.
And like I say, I'm looking for podcast listeners who want to get involved, who want to have their English assessed and analysed on the YouTube channel.
So if you are feeling brave and interested in taking part, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish .com forward slash contact.
That's breakoutbusinessenglish .com forward slash contact.
And let me know that you're interested in doing that and taking part.
Don't forget that you can book a session with me to work on your English communication skills by going to breakoutbusinessenglish .com.
That's breakoutbusinessenglish .com or clicking the link in the show notes.
And use the code PODCAST30, PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30 % discount off your first booking.
As I mentioned, I've worked with over 1 ,000 non -native English -speaking professionals from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them to achieve their goals in English and communication and I look forward to meeting you.
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That's it for today.
Thank you so much for listening as always.
And thank you for your time.
And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast.
