Lessons I Learned from Failing

Last week I had the opportunity to fail. My heart was broken. I was devastated. I believe the reason that it knocked me down so hard was because I wasn’t expecting it. I have failed many times and have learned valuable life lessons through my failures. My most recent failure reminded me that failure is always an option no matter how certain you are of victory. It was a humbling experience that I will not forget anytime soon.

As I reflect on my most recent failure, I am reminded of two life lessons: 1) there are almost always things outside of my control, and because of that, 2) I should always be prepared for failure.

Just as I ignored my risk of failing, business owners and executives often ignore the risk of fraud. When it happens to them or within their organization, they are completely shocked and caught off-guard. My two recent life lessons from failure apply to fraud too.

1. There are so many things that are outside your control as a business owner or executive. As an example, you cannot control your most trusted employee’s ability to rationalize their behavior when they choose to take money from the organization.
2. Being prepared for the possible occurrence of fraud is a powerful tool in reducing its financial and emotional impact. Business owners and executives should develop policies and procedures that will guide the investigation from start to finish. The emotions of all parties are very high when fraud is discovered and can lead to costly mistakes and inconsistences when making decisions. With a plan in place, you will have the ability to swiftly make decisions that are not driven by emotions, but rather by a pre-determined action plan.

In almost every case that I have investigated, the business owners and executives affected were shocked that the fraudster committed fraud against them. This is understandable because we want to trust our employees, we are focused on growing our business and taking care of our customers, and we think we are just too busy to worry about fraud, especially since it will never happen to us, right?

With most of my past failures, I considered failure as a possibility, and by doing so, I wasn’t shocked when I failed and I was prepared to handle it. But with my failure last week, I was emotionally hurt and drained because I hadn’t prepared myself for its possibility. Don’t fall into the same trap regarding your risk of fraud. Trust me, the financial and emotional costs will be much greater if you do not properly plan for it.