Table Of ContentTable of Contents
Praise
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Starting Fires
Chapter 2 - Resistance to Change
Chapter 3 - Think Big
Chapter 4 - Leading From the Back
Chapter 5 - I Want to Throw Up
Chapter 6 - Pause and Celebrate the Moment
Elevating Continuous Improvement to a Formal Process
Chapter 7 - Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, and Herb Lee
Chapter 8 - Hire for Attitude
Chapter 9 - Family, God, and the Green Bay Packers
Chapter 10 - Learn From Your Mistakes
Chapter 11 - Pushing Yourself to Fail
Chapter 12 - Break a Rib
Chapter 13 - Winning and Losing the Negotiation Game
Chapter 14 - Never Threaten to Quit Anything
Chapter 15 - Answer the Question, Please
Chapter 16 - Anaerobic Creativity
Chapter 17 - Continuous Improvement
Chapter 18 - Losing Control
Chapter 19 - More Valuable Than Money
Chapter 20 - Investing in People: The HR ROI
Chapter 21 - Let Me Help You Find a New Job
Chapter 22 - Negative Listening
Chapter 23 - Even Geniuses Can Fail
Chapter 24 - Keep Your Edge
Chapter 25 - Confronting Fear and Surviving the Epic Crisis
Chapter 26 - Blow It Up
Chapter 27 - Why Wait?
Chapter 28 - I Can’t Find My Ball
Chapter 29 - It’s the Economy, Stupid
Chapter 30 - Change Is My Drug of Choice
Postmortem
About the Author
“People from every walk of life can learn something from Ralph Heath’s Celebrating Failure. Heath’s
book tells us how even the toughest failures can, in the end, fuel tremendous success. Encouraging
originality, responding to changes, and thinking big are just some of the approaches Heath advocates
to help people to learn from failure and achieve their dreams.”
—U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
“Fear of failure is perhaps the worst affliction a manager can have because it leads to creative
paralysis and inhibited growth. And the fear is understandable. Despite all the clichés coming from
higher management, such as, ‘We reward mistakes, ’ and ‘If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not
trying hard enough,’ most managers know that mistakes are more often punished than rewarded. Into
this cultural reality now comes Ralph Heath’s reassuring words about failure not only as teacher but
as a power that leads to greater success. I highly recommend this helpful book.”
—James A. Autry, author of The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative
Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance
“There is no better way to learn than by experience. Celebrating Failure shows how we can learn
from our so-called failures to build a path to success. Ralph has found a fresh approach that will
reduce the fear of failure and increase your confidence. I highly recommend this book for any sales
professional.”
—Jeff Thull, author of Mastering the Complex Sale and Exceptional Selling
“Ralph Heath shows how and why you can’t go far with a small idea. He and the firm he built
personify the power of taking risks and thinking big, built on the philosophy that the more mistakes
you’re willing to make, and the faster you learn, the better you get.”
—Tim Williams, founder of Ignition Consulting Group and author of Take a
Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand From the Inside Out
“Heath’s account of failure and triumph is joyful and inspiring. His personal journey with failure and
success is applicable to both school and business leaders. Helping students to succeed is fraught with
failure, but viewing these failures as a necessary precursor to success is inspiring. If ever school
leaders needed inspiration, it is today. Heath’s account makes me want to share my own failures with
him, experience his warm and encouraging response, and try once again to make a difference in the
lives of the next generation.”
—Susan H. Alexander, district administrator, Markesan District Schools,
Markesan, Wisconsin
“Given the pace of change in today’s business environment, developing a culture of intelligent risk-
taking is no longer an option. It is merely the ‘ante’ to keep pace with changes in your industry, your
competition, and your customers. The practical approaches outlined in Celebrating Failure can help
you develop a healthy environment of risk-taking that is essential today and into the future.”
—Gregg Billmeyer, senior director, staff operations, Office of the President
and CEO, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
“Most of us focus on avoiding failure, so we take as few chances as possible. But for Ralph, failure is
always a genuine option. Which is probably why he created such an interesting and successful
company. Ralph’s book will help every professional who most probably spends his or her life focused
on avoiding failure to finally embrace it and become more successful by doing so.”
—Robb High, business development consultant to the agency industry,
former COO of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners
“Forget the fear, the embarrassment, and the guilt typically associated with failure and see how it can
be your greatest tool in achieving success.”
—Terry Gillette, founder and former president of The Company Store
“Everyone has heard these pithy statements about embracing failure found on inspiring posters, or in
graduation cards: ‘Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried.’ ‘Nothing ventured, nothing
gained.’ But few know how to live those statements. In Ralph Heath’s book, Celebrating Failure, he
turns poster into practice by providing a brilliant discourse on building a corporate culture that takes
you beyond those simple statements.”
—Taggert J. Brooks, associate professor of economics, University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse
“For the small business owner like me, Ralph Heath’s message is clear: To succeed one must not
strive to avoid failure but rather expect and celebrate when it appears, as it must. He provides clear
thinking as to why perfection is not to be expected, and, in fact, must not be sought. Celebrating
Failure will change your way of seeing the world.”
—Joe Friel, president, TrainingBible Coaching, LLC, and TrainingPeaks,
LLC
“An open and honest assessment of 30 years in management. Reading Celebrating Failure should
quell the fears of the new hire and re-open the learning curve of the seasoned executive.”
—David F. Vite, president and CEO, Illinois Retail Merchants Association
“I’ve come to know Ralph through our local racing cycling community, a group of people for whom
failure is definitely not embraced! After reading the book, you’ll understand why we appreciate his
participation and the perspective he brings. He possesses the ability to look at things differently and
makes you stop and think and ask, ‘Why?’ Enjoy the stories and his humor. We do.”
—Dan Paulus, vice president, sales and marketing, Digital Technology
International
“Celebrating Failure is a blueprint for success. Thanks for a great read!”
—Tony Stella, investment advisor, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company
“Celebrating Failure is a must-read for educators. Ralph Heath’s examples and stories should
encourage any executive or administrator to acknowledge failure as a way to grow and learn. He
clearly illustrates that failure can teach you to succeed. There is so much good information for school
administrators and parents, which would hopefully be passed on to kids.”
—Ann Mullally, retired school principal, Lawton Chiles Elementary School,
Gainesville, Florida (2003 National Distinguished Principal)
Copyright © 2009 by Ralph Heath
All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter
invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.
CELEBRATING FAILURE
EDITED AND TYPESET BY KARA KUMPEL
Cover design by The DesignWorks Group
Printed in the U.S.A. by Courier
To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using
VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press.
The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687,
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
www.careerpress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heath, Ralph, 1951-
Celebrating failure : the power of taking risks, making mistakes, and thinking big / by Ralph Heath. p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60163-064-3
eISBN : 97-8-16016388-6
1. Success in business. 2. Business failures. 3. Failure (Psychology) 4. Risk-taking (Psychology) I. Title.
HF5386.H349 2009 650.1--dc22
2008054043
