Today, Buster Posey broke through a hitting slump that had lasted for 18 at-bats. It was the second longest time he had gone without a hit in his MLB career.
Going 0 for 18 is an incredibly frustrating dry spell for any professional baseball player, but even more so for a reliable power hitter like Buster, who’s placed high in the batting order because of his usually strong performance.
To put it into perspective, last year Buster’s batting average was .318 — meaning he hit the ball and reached base 3 out of every 10 times. That’s a very good average at the professional level.
So Buster must have been frustrated by his failure to get a hit in the last several games. But he kept stepping up to the plate. He kept swinging the bat. He kept doing the right things, knowing that eventually his persistence would pay off.
We have to do the same thing as marketers.
Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
And Winston Churchill had this to say about failure: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Wise men. Powerful quotes. But do they really speak to us as 21st century marketers?
Yes.
We can’t afford to be afraid of failing. We must swing the bat and try to put the curve balls of business into play.
Even if it means failing 18 times before getting that successful hit.
Consider these people who didn’t stop at their early failures …
Walt Disney. Fired from the Kansas City Star because his editor thought he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
Oprah Winfrey. Fired from her job as a television news anchor for getting “too emotionally invested in her stories.”
Steven Spielberg. Rejected multiple times by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
R.H. Macy. Had a series of failed retail ventures before he launched R.H. Macy & Co. — the department store we now simply call Macy’s.
Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel. Had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers.
Sir James Dyson. Went through 5,126 failed prototypes while developing his vacuum.
Thomas Edison. Told by teachers that he was “too stupid to learn anything” and fired from his first two jobs for not being suitably productive.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
Successful people aren’t those who never fail. They’re the ones who keep going despite failures. They persevere and rise above temporary failure.
They step up to the plate and swing the bat.
At least at the good pitches, because sometimes taking a walk is just as much a success as getting a hit. (The Giants ended up winning today’s game in the 13th inning due to a bases loaded walk by Buster Posey.)
And they keep doing it until they get a hit.
I hope you do, too.
